


Secrets Of A Survivor

by Despy



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-04 04:28:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 27
Words: 58,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5320451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Despy/pseuds/Despy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life was never simple for Elliette Brooks, a stubborn girl with a complicated past and a laundry list of secrets.<br/>When the world ends she finds herself part of our favorite group of survivors. But will her trust issues and her shady past get in the way of her being accepted into the group?<br/>Eventual Daryl/OC<br/>Mild language.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue

It had been about a month since the world went to shit. Things were never that great for Elliette Brooks before the shift, being in her particular profession required she keep her distance from people. Loneliness wasn’t a new thing for her but more like a way of life. But everything had changed with the end of the world. Being alone wasn’t safe anymore, you needed people. Groups were safer than being out there alone. So that’s the reason Elliette decided to join up with a group of strangers she met in a traffic jam on the highway.  
They had been camped out at the quarry for a couple of weeks now and for Elliette it seemed that not much had changed. Obviously there was a lack of modern “niceities” like power and running water, but as far as feeling alone, thongs hadn’t really changed for her.  
There were plenty of people in their group. A nice lady named Andrea and her younger sister Amy, Lori and her son Carl, an ex police officer named Shane, the brothers Merle and Daryl Dixon, an older man named Dale, two guys named Glenn and T-dog, a quiet woman named Carol and her husband Ed and their daughter Sofia, and a few more that Elliette hadn’t bothered to learn the names of.  
Being surrounded by so many people was completely foreign for Elliette. She’d had to keep herself from getting to close to anyone for so long that now she wasn’t really sure how to handle it. Suddenly all these people were trying to talk to her and get to know her. It was unsettling and the best thing she could think to do was to just keep to herself as much as possible. So that’s what she did and as a result many of the group didn’t seem to trust her, not that she cared since she didn’t really trust them either.  
Sitting quietly by the campfire observing the group had become her go to activity when she wasn’t busy doing a few chores to help pull her own weight around the camp. It was in her nature to take in as much information as possible. It was a skill that had been ingrained in her since childhood, always being reminded of the importance of being aware of your surroundings. Always observe everything carefully, know everything that’s going on around you, that’s the key to self preservation.  
More often than not she would end up sitting back at the campfire watching everything and everyone very carefully. She didn’t know these people and she would never be stupid enough to stay with this group without understanding what she was dealing with. She needed to understand everything about them, needed to know their habits and routines, their personalities and body language, anything and everything she could learn about them could prove to be useful in the future.  
Keeping to herself had managed to put off most of the group members to some extent, but somehow in her few weeks of quiet observation of the camp she had managed to make an enemy of Ed. She would often look up and catch him giving her dirty looks from across the camp or hear him mutter snide comments to her in passing. She had also overheard him telling Shane one day that he thought the reason she never talked to anyone was that she was retarded. Elliette did her best to ignore it, telling herself he wasn’t worth causing any trouble over, but she wasn’t sure how much more she was willing to deal with before she would have to address the issue.  
Merle would throw the occasional offensive comment her way also but considering he did that with everyone she would just brush him off without much thought. Occasionally she would catch one of the other men, who’s name she hadn’t bothered learning, looking at her with a suspicious look. Sometimes she would worry that he might have recognized her from her past, but decided to leave it alone for the time being. If it turned out that he did know something then she would just have to figure out what to do about it when the time comes.


	2. Chapter 2

Elliette was sitting by the fire as she usually did. Things around camp were a little more lively today as a few people were preparing for a supply run into the city. She watched them as they went about packing up various supplies and weapons they might need. She noticed how Amy was fretting over Andrea while she was preparing, begging her not to go and telling her how worried she was that her sister might die. She also noticed how inexperienced Andrea seemed to be with her gun as she fumbled with it, loading it slowly and holding it awkwardly. Elliette made a mental note of it. It was important to know who would be able to handle themselves in case of an emergency and who would be dead weight.

She watched as Glenn and T-dog spoke with Dale about borrowing a toolbox, finding it important to remember that Dale had tools. She watched as the Dixon brothers went their separate ways, Merle joining the group going into the city and Daryl heading out on a hunting trip. Once a few more people finally joined up with the group they left, heading toward Atlanta. 

After the group left, the camp became quiet. Elliette watched as Carol and Amy hung some wet laundry out to dry but soon lost interest in them. Dale was on the roof of the RV keeping lookout, Shane and Lori had snuck off to the woods together, and the children were playing a card game by the RV. Deciding there was nothing important happening around camp any time soon, Elliette decided to take a walk and stretch her legs a little. She headed toward the water, walking slowly since there wasn’t any rush. As she made her way past some of the other’s tents Ed decided to grace her with his presence. He walked out from behind the nearest tent and stood directly in her path.

“Where the hell ya think you’re goin?” Ed asked with a cold expression. Elliette raised her eyebrow questioningly at him wondering if today would be the day.

“The women are over there doin laundry.” He nodded his head toward Carol and Amy hanging the laundry up. “You been slackin off, sitting round here doing nuthin all the time, my shirts ain’t gonna wash themselves ya know” he sneered.

Elliette recognized this as him trying to “put her in her place” and of course, was going to have none of that, so she stepped around him and continued on her way.

“Hey! You don’t understand cuz you retarded or sumthin? I said women are over there doin the laundry!” He grabbed her arm to stop her. 

That made Elliette's blood boil. She had been dealing with his dirty looks and rude comments for entirely long enough and now he wanted to put his hands on her. This was the final straw and she was about to put a stop to it.

“Don’t touch me.” She said turning to look him in the eye while shrugging his hand off her arm. 

“Oh shit the retard CAN talk.” He laughed “and what ya think you’re gonna do about it, hm?” He said grabbing her left arm and squeezing hard.

“I’m gonna give you one chance to let go before I show you what I’ll do about it.” She said as calmly as she could. 

“Hah!” he laughed in her face. “The fuck you think you can do little bitch?” he said squeezing harder.

Elliette might have been a little on the small side being 5’5, but she was strong. She was thin but had toned muscle from years of working at her old job. She was also quick on her feet and never backed down from a fight. Which is the reason she decided right then that she would show Ed exactly what she could do, and hopefully make an example of him for anyone else who thought they might try and mess with her.

Using his vice like grip on her arm to her advantage, she pulled her arm back hard throwing him off balance and bringing him down closer to her level. She then punched him in the face, just once, as hard as she could. As she watched him stumble, his lip split and bleeding, she decided that one punch was enough for now. She turned away and was about to continue on her walk when a large hand clamped onto her shoulder and yanked her back.

“yer gonna regret that! Ya stupid little bitch!” he yelled rearing his arm back and slamming his fist into her stomach. 

Not wasting any time Elliette went with her reflexive instinct and swung her fist for his face, but as he raised his hands to defend she quickly changed direction before he could realize it and jammed her elbow into his ribs. As he doubled over clutching his bruised ribs she swung her knee up connecting with his nose then she shifted to the side and brought her heel down on the back of his knee causing him to stumble to the ground. 

By this point they had gained the attention of the people in the camp, everyone rushing over to see what the commotion was about. Even Shane and Lori had come rushing back when they heard yelling. Carol hurried over to her husband, who was on the ground cursing and holding his bloody face, she was crying and apologizing. As Elliette was stepping back from the situation, wondering if maybe she had taken it a little too far, Shane came rushing up to her looking somewhere between confused and pissed off. 

“What happened here?” Shane demanded standing too close to Elliette for comfort.

“Why not ask him?” she replied coolly, taking a step back while pointing to Ed who was getting back on his feet. 

“Because I asked you.” He replied getting annoyed. “What the hell just happened here?”

“Nothing that I couldn’t handle, but you should talk to your pal over there about keeping his hands to himself. He hits me again, he’s dead.” She threatened. 

She knew that she wouldn’t kill Ed, he was just an idiot that needed to be taught a lesson in respecting women, but that didn’t change the point of this whole scene. Ed had been antagonizing her for some time now and she wanted to make an example of him. Looking at his bloodied face she felt confident that her point had been made clear. 

As they watched Ed storm away to his tent Amy started laughing, “Can we just focus on how a big jerk like Ed was taken down by a 90 pound girl? Because I don’t think that’s ever gonna stop being funny!” she giggled. Hearing that Elliette decided that she might actually like Amy, she was always polite and trying to be friendly to her, but she wasn’t about to become best friends with her, she still didn’t trust anyone.

“Well, if we’re done here…” Elliette said walking away, still wanting to continue her walk to the water. 

The others in the group watched her go and went back to their various activities feeling uneasy about the fight but, knowing how Ed was, decided that he had it coming. As Elliette made her way to the edge of the water she heard footsteps crunching behind her and was instantly on alert. She tried to act like she didn’t notice them as the footsteps came to a stop not far behind her. 

“I need to talk to you” a voice she didn’t recognize said behind her. She quickly turned around and realized it was the man she would see staring at her occasionally, the man whose name she never bothered to learn.

“And you are? ” She asked watching him carefully, preparing herself for anything. 

“Jim.” He said not surprised that she didn’t know his name. 

“Ok Jim.” She said “What is it?”

“I know bout you. I’ve had my suspicions bout you for a while now, and after what just happened back there, now I’m sure.”

‘Shit!’ Elliette thought to herself wondering if maybe he had recognized her from the news stories. He took a step forward and she stiffened and narrowed her eyes at him, not knowing what to expect from him now. He paused noticing her uneasiness and stepped back again. 

“I just want to know what your intentions are with the group.” He said holding his hands up as if to show he meant no harm to her.

“My intentions?” She asked raising a questioning eyebrow at him.

“I know who you are and what you do, or at least what you used to do. I just want to be sure that the group is gonna be safe.” 

“What I used to do. Meaning I don’t anymore. I left that life behind a long time ago, long before the end of the world.” She said.

“I just need to be sure, these are good people.” He said “Just answer the question.”

“ I can promise you, any harm comin to your group ain’t gonna be from me.” She stated matter-of-factly. “Well, except for Ed maybe…” 

Jim stood there looking at her for a moment, searching for any traces of deception. “Alright then, I’ll take your word on it…for now. But I’ll be keeping an eye on you.” He said after a few moments and turned to leave. 

“Wait!” she called after him. He turned to look at her questioningly. “Are you gonna tell them?” she asked him, nodding head towards the camp not liking that he had something to hold over her now.

“Not unless you make me have to.” He replied with a genuine smile, which did little to ease Elliette’s discomfort with the situation. He gave her a small nod and turned to head back up the hill.

Elliette watched as he made his way back to camp, not liking the recent turn of events. Jim knew who she was, this could become a problem for her. He said he wouldn’t tell anyone, but she didn’t trust him to keep his mouth shut. She knew all too well how petty people could be and how easily secrets can slip when someone gets careless or angry. On top of that was the whole ordeal with Ed, he would definitely be looking for revenge. What could she expect though, she had embarrassed him in front of half the camp, of course he would want to get back at her. Sighing she turned around looking at the beautiful view of the water.  
Things were definitely going to get interesting soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Elliette had spent longer down by the water than she had planned to, thinking over her current situation. She had decided that stressing herself over everything wouldn’t do her any good. Jim knew her secret and there’s nothing she could do about it that wouldn’t just cause more problems for herself in the long run. 

She made her way slowly back up the hill pausing when she heard a strange noise coming from camp, it sounded almost like…a car alarm. She picked up her pace making it back just in time to see a red sports car come speeding up with the alarm sounding loudly. Glenn jumped out looking like a kid on Christmas until he noticed all the glares he was getting from the group as they yelled at him to turn it off. He quickly popped the hood so Shane could unplug the battery, effectively silencing the deafening noise. 

As soon as the commotion over Glenn’s car died down a white box truck pulled up behind it. The other members from the supply run started trickling out of the truck one by one including a new guy who slid out of the driver’s seat. She noticed Merle wasn’t with them and couldn’t help wondering what happened to him. Of all the people in the group that left, he was the one she knew would be able to survive almost anything and she had a hard time believing that he would die so easily. She decided she would actually pay attention to the menial conversations around the camp today for clues on what had happened.

Elliette watched as everyone had their reunions, celebrating the safe return of their loved ones. What caught her attention was when Carl and Lori ran to the new man, Carl calling “Dad!” as he ran. The man scooped Carl and Lori into his arms holding them tightly. She watched the tearful reunion with mild interest. 

Elliette would never have anything like that. She had been alone since she was a kid, not really having a real family since the day her father gave her up. She never had any friends either, being taught through the years that friends made you weak. Friends were just people who could be used against you or betray you, they were liabilities. The only person you could rely on is yourself, the only person you need is yourself. That’s why this ‘living in a group' nonsense was so difficult for her. She hated relying on other people for anything, let alone protection from what the world had become. It made her feel weak, and she feared that over time these people would eventually make her weak too, but she wasn’t stupid either. She knew that chances of survival in a world like this were minimal if you went at it alone. 

Once the reunions were over, the introductions started. The new guy introduced himself to the group as Rick Grimes and everyone in the group took turns introducing themselves to him. Elliette took the chance to slip away from the group settling back in her usual place by the campfire to observe the newcomer for a while.

Later on, once the sun had gone down, everyone was settled around the campfires eating dinner. Elliette had been sitting with them for a while, half listening to the conversations going around the fire waiting for the subject of her interest to come up.

“Has anyone given any thought to Daryl Dixon? He won’t be too happy to hear his brother got left behind” Dale suddenly spoke up, catching Elliette’s attention. She instantly tuned into the conversation curious as to what exactly happened to Merle Dixon.

“Ill tell him” T-dog said, “I’m the one that dropped the key”

“I’m the one that cuffed him, that makes him mine” Rick stated.

“Guys, its not a competition. I don’t mean to bring race into this but, it might sound better coming from a white guy.” Glen said glancing between Rick and T-dog.

“I did what I did. Hell if I’m gonna hide from it” T-dog said shaking his head.

“We could lie” Amy threw in.

“Or tell the truth” Andrea interjected. “Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he would have gotten us all killed. Your husband did what was necessary.” she said looking at Lori. “And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody’s fault but Merle’s.”

“And that’s what we tell Daryl?” Dale questioned. “I don’t see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?” He asked looking between the three men. “Word to the wise, we’re gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt.” He stated shaking his head.

“I was scared and I ran. I’m not ashamed of it” T-dog said.

“We were all scared, we all ran. What’s your point?” Andrea asked.

“I stopped long enough to chain that door. The staircase was narrow, maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at one time. Its not enough to break through there. Not that chain, not that padlock.” He said shaking his head. “My point is Dixon’s alive, he’s still up there stuck on that roof. That’s on us.” T-dog said before getting up and walking away.

Everyone went quiet after that, giving Elliette a chance to process what she had just heard. They hand cuffed him and left him stranded on a rooftop alone. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the situation. Knowing how the older Dixon could be sometimes, she understood what they meant when they said he got out of control. She could understand restraining him to keep him from endangering their lives. What kind of idiot would sit back and let someone get them killed. She also knew that they felt bad about leaving him behind like they did, but if they felt so bad why hadn’t they tried harder to save him? Surely there was something else that they could have tried besides just chaining the door and running away scared. Not to mention the fact that she was currently surrounded by a group of people that had basically left one of their own for dead. She already had trust issues with these people and now she finds out they have no problems leaving someone behind without so much as a second thought. And why, because they didn’t care for him? Because he wasn’t a key member of the group? 

What did that mean for her? Would they throw her to the walkers first chance they got to save their own skins? She definitely wasn’t a major influence in the group, she wouldn’t be missed if something like that were to happen to her. She began wondering if maybe lurking around the camp like a shadow had been the right thing to do. Clearly these people had no problems sacrificing someone else for their own survival if they weren’t close with them. If that was the case maybe going solo would have been the better option. No, despite the appeal of the peace and quiet, she couldn’t deny the fact that in the current state of the world, being in a group was safer. 

Quickly becoming frustrated with her conflicting thoughts, she decided to think on it more in the morning. Standing up from her seat, she quietly left the group behind for the solitude of her tent, looking forward to the comfort of her sleeping bag and the promise of sleep. 

Elliette woke up the next morning feeling rested but still conflicted with her opinion of the group and her position in it. Deciding she didn’t want to start the day with a headache she pushed it out of her mind and pulled on some clean clothes. She exited her tent and headed over to get breakfast. Once she had eaten and washed her dishes she decided to wander around the camp a bit and observe her fellow group members a little. As she made her way around some of the tents a small body came flying around one of the tents colliding with her and nearly knocking her over. 

“Oh! Sorry! I’m so sorry!” Sofia apologized looking a little afraid. 

“It was an accident. We were playing tag” Carl, who wasn’t far behind, spoke up quickly. 

“Its ok.” Elliette said quickly, feeling awkward. 

She had never been around children before and really had no idea how to talk to them. She had observed other people in the past interacting with children and noticed they seemed to baby talk them and coddle them, but Carl and Sofia seemed too old for that sort of behavior. She tried to think back to when she was that age, how people treated her, and remembering how she wanted to be spoken to and treated like she was older. Elliette decided it couldn’t be much different for them right? 

“Why don’t you talk?” Carl blurted out all of a sudden, taking both Elliette and Sofia by surprise. 

“Because I like to listen and observe. If you’re too busy talking all the time, you never notice what’s going on around you.” Elliette stated matter-of-factly.

“I guess...” Carl said uncertainly.

Thinking the encounter was over Elliette went to leave only to be stopped by a curious looking Sofia stepping in front of her.

“Where did you learn to fight?” she asked quickly.

“Someone taught me a long time ago. Why?” She asked raising an eyebrow.

“Do you think you could teach us how to do that?” Carl asked with enthusiasm.

Suddenly Elliette had a feeling this wasn’t the accidental run in that she originally thought it was. They both seemed excited to ask about her fighting skills and she had to admire their eagerness to learn.

“I don’t know…I’m not much for teaching” she told them.

“Please! We promise to pay attention! We need to know how to defend ourselves! Carl pleaded.

“Well…I suppose it couldn’t hurt any” she sighed.

So that’s how Elliette got sucked into a 30 minute lesson in basic self defense ,that somehow managed to morph into an hour of rapid fire questions coming from both kids. It seemed they had taken a liking to her in their short time together because they seemed to want to know everything about her. Asking about her likes and dislikes, favorite color, food, animal. Anything and everything they could think to ask her they did.

When she had managed to separate herself from the children she was exhausted. She couldn’t remember the last time she had talked so much in one day. She was just making her way back to her spot by the fire when she heard the children screaming over by the edge of the woods. Reacting on instinct she took off running towards the children to see what was happening.

When she made it to the area where all the commotion was, she realized that several of then men had been just ahead of her and were beating a walker with random items they had picked up in their haste. When Dale finally chopped it’s head off with an axe, Elliette noticed the deer behind it with a few arrows in it’s hindquarters and a large chewed area on its neck.

“Here comes trouble” she muttered to herself, knowing the rage storm that was sure to come in the next few minutes.


	4. Chapter 4

Rustling coming from the woods caught everyone’s attention. They raised their weapons in anticipation but lowered them again when they saw the familiar man with his crossbow in hand.

“Son of a bitch! That’s my deer!” Daryl made his way over to the deer. “Look at it, all gnawed on by this filthy, disease bearin, motherless proxy bastard!” He said kicking the walkers body with each insult.

“Calm down son, that’s not helping” Dale told him calmly.

“What you know bout it old man? Why don’t you take that stupid hat an go back to on golden pond!” he said getting in Dale's face. “Been trackin this deer for miles” he walked back to the deer. “Was gonna drag it back and cook us up some venison” he yanked the arrows out of the deer. “What do ya think?” he asked pointing to the deer’s bloody neck “ya think we could just cut round that chewed up part?”

“I would not risk that” Shane said looking down.

“That’s a damn shame.” Daryl shook his head. “I got some squirrel, a dozen or so, it’ll have to do” he glanced around the group. Suddenly the walker’s detached head started hissing and chomping its teeth.

“Oh god” Amy said, looking like she was about to be sick. Andrea took her hand and lead her away from the scene and back to camp.

“Come on people, what the hell?” Daryl shot the head through the eye with his crossbow. “Gotta get the brain. Don’t y’all know nuthin?” he said pulling the arrow out and walking away.

As everyone followed Daryl back to camp Elliette broke off from the group and made her way back to the campfire, having no desire to get caught up in the fight that was most definitely about to take place. She could still clearly see and hear everything that was about to happen but from a safe distance.

Daryl was by the RV calling for Merle when Shane approached him.

“Hey Daryl, slow up a minute. I need to talk to ya.” Shane reluctantly called out.

“Bout what” Daryl turned to look at him.

“About Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta.”

“He dead?” Daryl asked getting straight to the point.

“Not sure” Shane shook his head.

“He either is or he ain’t!” Daryl began raising his voice.

“Look there’s no easy way to say this so I’ll just say it” Rick cut in walking up to Daryl.

“Who’re you?” Daryl gave Rick a dirty look.

“Rick Grimes” he introduced himself.

“Rick Grimes” Daryl said mockingly “You got sumthin you wanna tell me?”

“Your brother was a danger to us all. So I handcuffed him to a roof, to a piece of metal. He’s still there.” Rick stood his ground against the angry Dixon.

“Hold on, let me process this for a minute” Daryl turned his head for a minute before turning back to Rick. “You said you handcuffed my brother to a roof, AND YOU LEFT HIM THERE?!” Daryl yelled at Rick.

“Yea.” Rick nodded.

Elliette could see how angry Daryl was from where she was sitting, and knew that he wasn’t taking the news very well. Daryl suddenly slung his string of squirrels at Rick's head. Rick had dodged the squirrels and as soon as he came up Daryl was lunging at him with his hunting knife, only to be tackled and put in a chokehold by Shane. Rick bent down in front of the two and they had a quick conversation that Elliette couldn’t hear from her spot.   
Shane released him and they had another quick exchange explaining to him about the chained door.

“To hell with all y’all. Just tell me where he is so I can go get em!” he yelled at them. 

“ He’ll show you.” Lori suddenly interrupted.

“I’m going back.” Rick said matter-of-factly. 

The conversation quickly died after that. Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and T-dog were preparing for their trip back into the city with new resolve after learning about a bag of guns they would be recovering after saving Merle. Lori was adamantly giving Rick hell for going back despite being the one who said anything about it in the first place and Shane was quick to jump in giving his opinion on the matter.

Rolling her eyes at the scene, Elliette decided that was enough of that for one day. She stood from her seat by the fire, slowly making her way past them when something caught her attention. Ed was making his way over to her with a determined look on his face. She stopped in her tracks catching the attention of the five guys and Lori who were confused by her actions. Elliette always kept her distance from pretty much everyone so for her to stop and stand near the group was a strange sight. All but Shane and Lori became more confused when they noticed Ed making his way over to her, both of them shooting equally angry glares. She stood quietly as Ed made his way up to her and stopped. 

“You stay away from my girl.” Ed got in her face. “She don’t need no fightin lessons and she sure as hell don’t need a little shit like you putting ideas in her head.” Ed spat at her with disgust. 

“Get outta my face Ed” Elliette stated calmly.

“Shut it bitch, and listen ta what I said. You keep away from my kid.” He started getting angry.

“You don’t tell me what to do. Remember?” Elliette getting equally irritated with his bossy attitude. Had he already forgotten what happened yesterday? Judging by the look that crossed Ed's face he hadn’t.

“Just leave her be” he said finally backing away from Elliette and making a hasty retreat.

Elliette sighed relieved that there wouldn’t be another confrontation and looked over when Lori laughed lightly but tried to hide it by clearing her throat. Shane shook his head amusedly at the two while Rick, Glenn, Daryl, and T-dog were looking at the three of them with confused expressions. 

“Ok, what?...” T-dog started.

“Did we miss something?” Glenn asked.

“Oh it was quite a show.” Shane slung an arm over Elliette’s shoulders as she tried to leave, effectively holding her in place. “Little Elliette here really knocked Ed down a few pegs yesterday ” She shifted uncomfortably as the three looked at her like she had grown a second head.

“Aint no way. Look at her. So little she couldn’t fight her way out a wet paper bag” Daryl snorted. Elliette glared at him, getting really tired of these people’s remarks about her size. So she was short, that didn’t mean she was some scared, helpless little girl.

“Oh it happened, and it was damn funny too” Shane chuckled. 

“You weren’t laughing yesterday.” Elliette side eyed him. Shane shrugged removing his arm from her shoulders.

“So that explains his fat lip, huh?” T-dog said. 

“How did you do it? I mean no offence, but you don’t really look…ya know…” Glenn awkwardly gestured to her.

“Don’t look like I could ‘fight my way out a wet paper bag'?” she asked sarcastically.

“Well…yea. I guess.” Glenn hesitated a little at her response. Rolling her eyes at them she started to leave again. 

“Wait. What was he saying about fighting lessons?” Lori suddenly spoke up making Elliette stop again. 

“The kids wanted me to show them some stuff. It wasn’t much, they just asked me random questions more than anything.” She shrugged.

“Carl told me about that” Rick suddenly spoke up “Seems to have taken a real liking to you too, both of them actually.” 

“Don’t you people have somewhere to be?” Elliette changed the subject becoming uncomfortable. She never had anyone care for her before and she didn’t know if she wanted to get close to those kids. She was still undecided on whether she should try to associate with the group more to try and gain their trust, or if she should continue keeping her distance from them. She decided tonight she would have to sit down and make some decisions.

“She’s right” Rick’s voice pulling her away from her thoughts. “We best be going while its still early enough.” Elliette watched as they went to the truck, the four men loading up, and Lori and Shane saying their last bits to Rick. As the truck left camp Elliette walked to her tent deciding to keep busy for a while by doing some laundry.  
•  
The sun had set and everyone had gathered around a fire to eat. They had made some fried fish since Andrea and Amy had managed to catch so many earlier in the day. The guys still hadn’t returned from their rescue mission yet so they had made sure to put some extra aside for them whenever they got back. Elliette sat in her usual spot enjoying the happy atmosphere around the fire as the group told stories and laughed.

She watched as Amy left the group because she needed the restroom, smiling to herself at how protective Andrea was over her little sister. A few minutes passed then they heard screaming coming from the RV. In an instant Elliette was on high alert as chaos consumed the camp. A herd of walkers had come across their quiet place at the quarry and no one was prepared for it. 

Elliette ran to her tent, her heart beating out of her chest. Snatching her hatchet and her handgun, she exited the tent quickly assessing the situation then jumping into action. She used her gun taking out as many walkers as she could, dropping it when the clip was empty and switching to her hatchet. She came up behind a walker that was kneeling, feasting on one of the unfortunate group members and swung, burying the hatchet into the walkers skull. She stopped suddenly when she heard screaming. 

Looking around quickly she saw Sophia alone and three walkers heading right for her. Cursing under her breath she retrieved her hatchet from the dead walker’s skull and ran to Sophia hoping she would make it to the girl in time. As fast as she was moving it wasn’t fast enough as she watched the walkers get closer to the girl. Feeling panic rise in her chest she did the only thing she could think and threw her hatchet at the walker closest to Sophia silently praying she wouldn’t move and get hit by mistake. The hatchet flew through the air and Elliette watched as the blunt side made contact with the walkers forehead, knocking it off balance and buying her enough time to get to the girl.

Elliette ran between Sophia and the walkers, punching one that was about to make a grab at her and quickly picked up her hatchet from the ground. Without hesitation she smashed her hatchet into the skull of the first walker and in one fluid motion pulled it from its head and brought it down on the second walker. She was pulling her hatchet from the second walkers head when a pair of hands latched onto her shoulders. She had misjudged how quickly the third walker was moving and now it would cost her. She fought against the walkers pull, hearing the hissing in her ear caused panic to rise in her as she twisted in its grip holding its snapping jaws away from herself. Suddenly she heard the sound of a gunshot and the walker suddenly went limp falling to the ground and nearly taking her with it. Confused she looked around and noticed a clearly shaken Sophia standing next to Daryl who was holding a shot gun. She checked her surroundings and noticed that the camp had gone quiet, all the walkers now dead and unfortunately several of the group members too. 

“You alright?” he asked in his usual gruff manner.

“Yea” she nodded curtly.

“MY BABY!” Carol came running up to the three, scooping Sophia into her arms and crying. “Thank you, thank you so much” she cried looking to Elliette.

“Your welcome.” She mumbled feeling uncomfortable with the attention on her and irritated with the fact that Daryl had to come to her rescue. She was careless and got distracted and he had to come save her. Feeling more frustrated with herself by the minute she picked up her hatchet and stormed past them, Daryl and Carol giving her questioning looks, as she headed for her tent. 

She yanked the zipper shut behind her and flopped down on her sleeping bag huffing angrily. What was she thinking? She almost got herself killed just now. She couldn’t believe how careless and sloppy she had been to lose track of that third walker, and the fact that Daryl had to come in and save her! She had never needed help from anyone before! But isn’t that the whole reason she had decided to stay with a group? To have someone to watch her back. So why was she so upset to find out that she had made the right decision after all? She should be happy that someone had saved her and didn’t just leave her for walker chow. 

With a sigh of defeat she shut her eyes, making her decision. No matter how much she disliked it she was in this group and had no intentions of leaving, so she would just have to suck it up and give them a chance. She would have to let them get to know her a little and try and gain their trust. She would quit lurking on the sidelines, just watching everyone, and actually get involved in conversations. She didn’t have to trust them fully but, as much as she disliked it, she would have to give them a little bit. 

Having finally come to a decision about her feelings she felt like a little weight had lifted from her. She snuggled into her sleeping bag and tried to get some sleep.

When morning came she drug herself out of her tent dreading the task ahead. Some people were already working on moving the bodies into two areas. Daryl was making his way through the camp with a pick axe hitting the dead's brains, making sure the dead stayed dead. Elliette took a pair of gloves from her tent and made her way over to the RV pausing when she saw Andrea kneeling next to a lifeless Amy. She felt sad for the girl but didn’t really know her well enough to mourn over her death. She, instead, made her way over to Glenn.

“Need any help?” She asked taking Glenn by surprise.

“Oh? Uh yea sure.” He pointed to the lined up bodies near the RV “our people there, and the others over there” he gestured toward the pile of dead walkers a little further away.

“Ok” she slipped her gloves on quickly getting to work. 

Elliette helped move the bodies of the dead for what felt like hours when a woman screaming caught her attention.

“Jim’s bit!” She yelled across the camp. Elliette caught up with everyone who was gathering around Jim to see if it was true.

“Show us!” Daryl demanded. When Jim didn’t move Daryl lunged forward lifting Jim’s shirt some showing an angry red bite.

“Its ok. I’m fine, I’m good” Jim tried reasoning with them. 

Elliette knew what needed to be done, it was common sense. Getting bit was a death sentence. Rick and Shane helped Jim over to the RV and sat him down, everyone following close behind. As the others stood in a circle discussing Jim’s fate, Elliette made her way over to kneel in front of Jim.

“Hey” Elliette started.

“I’m ok” he mumbled seeming out of it.

“I know” she placed her hand on his forehead feeling his fever. “Listen, I just wanted to say thank you.” She lowered her hand. “I appreciate you keeping what you know about me under wraps.”

“Yer a good person.” He sighed heavily. “Just promise me sumthin”

“What’s that?”

“Ya gotta do what you can.” He mumbled looking off in the distance.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“These are good people.” He looked to the group. He and Elliette pausing when they heard Rick deciding to go to the CDC rather than Fort Benning.

“Looks like they’re gonna try and get you a cure” Elliette patted his shoulder. “So what were you saying?”

“Never mind” he shook his head “You’ll do what’s right.”

“Um, ok…” Elliette was a little confused but figured it was the fever talking. She stood, waving bye to Jim, and headed over to finish helping with burying the fallen group members. 

First thing in the morning they’d be leaving for the CDC.


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone was busy packing up their belongings preparing to head for the CDC. Elliette had put all her clothes into the duffle bag already and had rolled up her sleeping bag. She sat on the floor of her tent reloading the clip for her gun, that she had found still lying on the ground near her tent. Once the gun was loaded she slipped into the back of her jeans and carried her things outside setting them on the ground and taking her tent down. Slinging her duffle bag over her shoulder and carrying her tent, she made her way over to Shane and Rick who were organizing everyone into vehicles for the trip.

“Elliette, your riding with Daryl.” Rick pointed to the old blue truck with Merle’s motorcycle in the back. “You can put your stuff in the back of Carols car” he threw in.

“Thanks” she headed over to pack her things in the back of the already crowded vehicle. When she was sure that her things were secure she made her way over to the old blue truck, climbing in and getting comfortable for the long trip ahead. Everyone was getting into their respective vehicles when the driver side door opened and Daryl slid into the seat starting the truck, not acknowledging her presence once. Shrugging Elliette turned to stare out the window watching the scenery as they followed the line of cars being lead by the RV down the highway. 

They had been riding in silence for a few hours when she heard Daryl curse under his breath slowing the truck to a stop. She looked up noticing the line of vehicles had pulled over and people getting out to see what was going on. Daryl got out of the truck following everyone over to see what the hold up was, Elliette stayed back for a minute before finally making her way over to them. By the time she got there Rick and Shane were helping Jim out of the RV sitting him down against a tree on the side of the road. He was sweating profusely and looked like he might pass out any minute.

“You’re sure this is what you want” Rick asked him. Jim didn’t answer but instead locked eyes with Elliette.

“I want you to do it.” He held her gaze with pleading eyes.

“What?” Her voice tiny. She had a feeling she knew what he was asking and silently prayed it wasn’t true.

“Don’t do that. You know what. Please. Just like anyone else, please.” He asked again. Elliette was slightly shocked, after telling him how she had left that part of herself in the past, that he would want her to drag it all back up like this.

“How can you ask that of me?” she raised her voice a little. She knew if she did this, it would only open a can of worms that she wasn’t ready to deal with yet. 

“You’re the only one who can.” He said simply and Elliette knew he was right. She doubted any of these people, including Jim himself, had it in them to do what needed to be done. “Please, I just want to be with my family again.” He pleaded.

By this point everyone was staring at them thoroughly confused, trying to understand what exactly was happening between Jim and Elliette.

“This is really what you want?” Elliette sighed.

“Yea. Just like anyone else, ok.”

Elliette moved a little closer to Jim standing directly in front of him. She couldn’t believe what she was doing, after working so hard to lock away that chapter of her life, here it came slapping her in the face again. She took a deep breath and locked gazes with Jim once more deciding she at least owed him this much for keeping her secret for so long. She would do what he asked of her, she would honor his last request.

In one quick motion she whipped the gun out from the back of her pants and shot him in the head. The group members stood in stunned silence as Elliette slid the gun back into her pants as if nothing had ever happened. 

Then, like a dam bursting, everyone was yelling at her all at once.

“The fuck was that?” Shane grabbed her by the shoulder.

“What the hell kid?” Daryl growled at her.

“Oh, God!” Carol looked sick.

“Elliette, why did you shoot him?” Lori’s voice was shaky.

“I think we deserve some kind of explanation.” Ricks calm voice broke through everyone’s questions.

“He asked me to.” Elliette stated simply. She shrugged her arm from Shane’s grip and made her way back to the truck leaving the confused people behind.

Elliette climbed into the passenger seat of the truck watching as the group had a quick frantic conversation, probably trying to understand what just happened and what they should do now. How ironic that she was so worried about Jim keeping her secrets from them, and by granting his last wish, she had managed to open the door for all to see. She had tried so hard not to be that person anymore, but here it was, like nothing had changed after all these years. She sighed, frustrated with the whole situation and watched everyone going back to their vehicles. Daryl climbed back in the truck without a word, started the engine and pulled back onto the road behind the others. 

They had been on the road for a while and Elliette could feel Daryl watching her from the corner of his eye. She had tried to ignore it but was starting to get annoyed. Daryl wasn’t the kind of person to hold his tongue, she knew that. If he had something to say to her why didn’t he just say it already? Another 30 minutes passed in uncomfortable silence, Daryl still burning holes in the side of her head, when she couldn’t take it anymore. 

“If you want to ask, just ask already” Elliette turned to look at him. He kept a straight face, looking forward at the road as he seemed to think about what he wanted to say.

“It’ll have ta wait” he nodded toward the large building of the CDC coming into view.

The line of vehicles came to a stop in front of the large building. Elliette looked out the window shuddering at the scene before them. There were dead bodies everywhere as if a war had broken out. Everyone got out of their vehicles following Rick up to the big metal doors that were shut tight. Rick began banging on the door screaming, instantly putting Elliette on high alert. What the hell was he thinking making so much noise out here? Was he trying to attract every walker in the area?

“Walkers!” Daryl raised his crossbow. Elliette reached for her hatchet in her belt but it wasn’t there. She cursed remembering she had packed it her bag thinking she wouldn’t need it. She pulled the gun from her jeans, knowing she couldn’t shoot it or she would only attract more trouble, and held it by the barrel. It wasn’t the most effective weapon but it would have to do.

The walkers were coming in quick, Daryl and Elliette fighting them off as Rick and Shane were arguing about a camera over the door. She smashed the butt of her gun against a walkers skull until it quit moving, quickly switching to the next one. She was smashing the walkers skull in when she felt a hand grab her arm, reflexively she spun around slamming her fist into their face. 

“Son of a bitch!” Daryl swore holding his cheek. Elliette panicked for a second as he grabbed her arm again but noticed he started to pull her towards the now open door, dragging her inside. 

“Sorry about that. Are you alright?” she asked once they were safely inside. Daryl opened his mouth to respond but was cut short as a man in a lab coat announced that they would need to do blood tests in return for sanctuary. The guys ran back out to grab everyone’s bags really quick before the man shut the door. The man, who introduced himself as Dr. Jenner, went one by one taking a sample of everyone’s blood then showing them to an elevator promising them something to eat.

The food was amazing and a welcome change to Elliette, eating rabbit and squirrel for so long had gotten a little old. Everyone was in a great mood laughing and joking around, though Elliette didn’t miss the sideways glances she would receive every few minutes. Obviously they hadn’t forgotten about what happened back on the highway with Jim, and she knew it was only a matter of time until she would be forced to give them a proper explanation. 

Sighing she downed the rest of her wine and poured herself another glass. If this could possibly be her last safe night with these people before they decide to make her leave, then dammit she was going to enjoy it. 

“Yo Daryl” T-dog suddenly caught everyone’s attention. “Been meanin to ask ya bro, what happened to your face?” All attention suddenly turned to Daryl and his slightly swollen and bruised cheek.

“That little shit over there punched me” he pointed to Elliette, everyone’s eyes shifting to her.

“Who can’t fight a wet paper bag now, Dixon.” She snickered feeling the warmth of the alcohol in her veins. Everyone laughed at her comment, including Daryl, likely a result of the alcohol since she didn’t find her comment to be that funny.

As dinner wound down Dr. Jenner showed them to their rooms, mentioning hot showers. Elliette, as well as everyone else, rushed to whichever room was closest to them, claiming it as their own. As soon as the door was shut she was stripping her dirty clothes off and making her way to the bathroom. She turned on the water letting it get hot and looked in the mirror. Her long brown hair was tangled and her face was dirty. She could tell she had lost a little weight too. She climbed in the shower and scrubbed her hair and body until she finally felt satisfied that she was clean enough.

She stepped out of the shower and dried her body and hair with a fresh towel. She sighed as she realized that in her excitement to shower she forgot to grab some clean clothes. Wrapping the towel tightly around herself she stepped out of the bathroom and went to the bed where she had tossed her duffle bag on the way in. She pulled out clean underwear and slipped them on tossing the towel to the floor. She quickly pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt when knock on the door caught her attention. She opened the door surprised to see Rick and Shane on the other side.

“We’d like to talk to you.” Rick got straight to the point.

“Yea, ok…” Elliette didn’t bother trying to delay the inevitable. She followed Rick and Shane back to the dining room where everyone was waiting at the table, except for the children, who were probably in bed already.

“I’m sure you already know what this is about” Shane said as she took a seat facing the group. 

“Yea, yea, I know.” Elliette rolled her eyes. “Look, I only shot Jim because he asked me to. If the circumstances were any different I wouldn’t have done it.”

“We know” Rick said

“He wasn’t making it with that bite” Dale jumped in. “We know that.” 

“So what’s the problem then?” Elliette started getting annoyed. She could be asleep in a comfortable bed right now, but they wanted to discuss the fate of a dead man.

“Its not that you did it, its how you did it.” Andrea said looking her in the eyes. “That look on your face when you shot him, like it was just another day to you”

“As if it was as normal to you as tying your shoes.” Lori added.

“Oh, that…” Elliette felt her stomach drop. She was hoping they had overlooked that particular detail.

“Yea, that” Shane said sarcastically.

“Well is kind of a long story…” 

“We got time” Rick shut down her attempt at delaying the talk. 

Elliette looked around the room at all the curious faces looking back at her. She knew there was no getting out of this without telling them about her past, but she would still have to be careful how much she told them. They only needed to know the basics, they didn’t need to know her whole life story. If they knew everything about her, she knew there would be no way they would ever want to keep her around. She didn’t like the feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach at the thought of being cast out of the group. She had only just decided to try and open up to them a little, and now here she was, forced to tell them more than she had ever planned to. Slowly looking at each person at the table she decided to just woman up and get to it. If they decided they didn’t want her there then so be it. She could always try to find another group, right?

“Ok Fine, I’ll tell you” she sighed.


	6. Chapter 6

“Ok Fine, I’ll tell you” she sighed. 

“My father was a very stupid and selfish man” she paused noticing how they seemed to be hanging on her every word. Quick version, she reminded herself. “He was a gambling man, but not a very good one. He got in a bad situation with some worse people, and by the time I was six years old every major crime family in the area had a price on his head.”

“The hell does that have to do with any of this?” Daryl growled out impatiently.

“I’m gettin to it” she said. “Anyway, the head of the biggest crime organization in the area decided to make a deal with my father. He would pay off all the debts he owed to everyone and forgive the debt he owed to himself in exchange for something else.” She took a deep breath trying not to get angry at the memories.

“What was it?” Glenn asked.

“Me” she sighed. “My father bartered me away for financial security” venom dripping from her words. She would never forget the feeling of betrayal she felt when she found out that he had sacrificed any chance for her to have a normal, happy life for his own selfish reasons. 

“The boss ‘adopted’ me and spent the next 10 years teaching me their way of life. Then when I was old enough, he put me to work” she sighed. “I’ve done a lot of bad things, my hands definitely have blood on them” she confessed. 

“When I turned twenty I ran away, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to be that person anymore. I decided to lock that part of myself away forever and try to live normally. And I did for four years, until the world went to shit.” She felt satisfied that she had gotten the general facts out without all the dirty details.

“And Jim knew” Rick stated simply. 

“He knew” she nodded “I don’t know exactly how much he knew, he never did say, but he knew enough.”

“And he never said anything?” Carol said with a shaky voice. She clearly wasn’t handling the news well. “What about the children for goodness sakes! She was teaching them to fight! What else could she have been teaching them? Who know what she’s been filling their heads with!” she rambled on her voice steadily raising.

“Hold up a damn second!” Elliette nearly yelled standing up from her chair. “Jim never told y’all because he didn’t see the need to, he believed me when I told him I’d left that life behind! Besides, what good would it do for me to hurt y’all? If I’d wanted to kill you people, trust me I’d have done by now!” she stormed out of the dining area back to her room slamming the door behind her.

Elliette flopped down in her bed burying her face in the pillow. She knew it was just a matter of time until they’d come knocking on her door to ask her to leave. She cursed herself for letting her temper get the best of her like that. If there was any chance they might understand, she probably ruined it by acting that way. She huffed and shut her eyes deciding to get some rest while she still had a chance to. 

When Elliette woke up it took her a minute to remember where she was. How long had she been asleep? She got out of bed feeling better and more rested than she had in a long time. She didn’t know what time it was but her stomach growling convinced her to leave her room and get some breakfast. When Elliette got to the dining room she could smell food but there was no one around. She noticed a stack of dirty dishes on the counter and a serving plate with what was left of the food they’d had. She didn’t know if they’d purposely saved her some or not but she quickly ate what was left anyway. She didn’t know what was happening yet and she needed to make sure to eat what she could, while she could. 

After her meal she wandered back to her room and settled back down on her bed. She had heard voices as people passed by her door but didn’t bother to try and talk to them. She just laid in bed soaking up the comfortable relaxing atmosphere while she still could. 

She’d laid there for a while daydreaming about what things would be like if the world hadn’t ended, but the noticeable sound of the air shutting off snapped her back into reality. Curiosity getting the best of her, she peeked her head out the door only to notice everyone else doing the same thing. No one said a word to her as they all started making their way down the hallway talking about something happening with the generators. Obviously Elliette had missed something this morning. Feeling nosey she decided to tag along behind the group keeping a good bit of distance behind them. By the time she made it to the computer room she heard yelling and Rick was holding a very pissed off Shane back from Dr. Jenner. To say she was confused would be an understatement. She looked around at the group of people that either didn’t notice her presence or didn’t want to acknowledge her, she wasn’t sure which yet. 

“Everyone get your stuff! Were leaving!” Rick commanded. Everyone suddenly turned around and started back toward the entryway that Elliette had just come through. Suddenly a large metal door slammed down blocking the way back to the rooms.

“Did he just lock us in?” Glenn asked incredulously.

“You son of a bitch!” Daryl lunged for Jenner but was held back by Shane.

“You open those doors now!” Rick demanded.

“What’s the point” Jenner shrugged with a hopeless attitude. Elliette didn’t like the way he was acting as she tuned out his ranting about how the facility was locked down. She wasn’t really sure what was happening but she was getting a bad feeling about all this. She started looking around the room for any way out or anything she could use to get the door open when an automated female voice sounded through the room.

“HIT's: High Impulse Thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is useful where the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired.”

“The fuck?” Elliette looked at Jenner questioningly.

“It sets the air on fire” he answered. “No pain. An end to sorrow, regret, everything.” 

Elliette couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This psycho wanted to blow them all up? She didn’t last this long to be trapped like a rat then blown up! Glenn busted open an emergency case on the wall pulling out two axes, handing one to Shane and the other to Daryl. They both spent the next minute slamming the axes into the metal door but it was no use, all they’d managed to do was scratch the paint.

“We can’t make a dent!” Shane called out lowering his axe as Daryl continued to swing at the door.

“Those doors are deigned to withstand a rocket launcher” Jenner explained.

“Your head ain’t!” Daryl suddenly turned toward Jenner, axe raised. Elliette rushed forward latching onto his arm to hold him back Rick and Shane not far behind. It took the three of them to hold Daryl back from smashing Jenner’s head in with the axe, and if it weren’t for the fact that he was the only one who could open those doors, Elliette would have let him. T-dog pulled the axe from Daryl’s hands and set it down away from him. Once he was disarmed they released their hold on him and he began pacing across the room like a caged animal. She turned her attention back to Jenner as Carol was pleading with him to open the door with tears in her eyes. He only responded with some crap about living like this being hopeless.

Elliette felt her temper flaring, she’d had just about enough of this Dr. Jenner and his bullshit about how hopeless this life was. Who the hell was he to decide whether they should live or die? With fierce determination she headed over to Daryl and snatched his hunting knife from his belt, ignoring the flabbergasted look on his face, and turned to Jenner. She stalked up to him quickly, grabbing his arm and yanking him out of his chair and slammed him against the wall with the knife to his throat. The fact that most of the group was ignoring her existence had really worked to her advantage, they noticed just a moment too late to stop her.

“Elliette no!” Rick said stepping closer.

“No! I didn’t ask for tickets to this asshole's pity parade!” she spat out. “Open the door!” she demanded.

“Or what? You’ll kill me?” he smiled, but his eyes were dead. This man wanted to die, so threatening him with death obviously wasn’t going to work. 

Elliette was mulling over the idea of slow, painful torture when a strong arm wrapped around her midsection and yanked her away from the doctor. 

“Let me go!” she yelled struggling against him.

“Shut the hell up” was Daryl’s response as he quickly retrieved his knife from her before slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of flour.

“What the hell are you doing? He’s tryin to kill us! We can’t just sit back and let it happen!” Elliette’s temper raged as Daryl carried her across the room and plopped her down in an empty computer chair.

“Just stay here!” he demanded “Yer on thin ice as it is, don’t need to push them any” he said quickly before walking over to grab his axe from earlier. He headed back over and continued his work trying to break the door open. 

Elliette watched him for a minute confused. He said she was on thin ice, so did that mean they weren’t kicking her out? Were they willing to let her stick around as long as she didn’t make any mistakes? And did Daryl Dixon just help her by stopping her from making said mistake? She couldn’t help but smile at that, reminding herself to thank him later.

With new resolve to try again to earn these people’s trust, she decided that she would have to keep her temper in check from now on for her to have any hope of this working. She turned her attention back to the group, deciding to listen to Daryl and stay put in her timeout chair for the moment. 

She watched as Rick and Lori were doing their best to convince Jenner to let them out. Suddenly a look of defeat crossed his face as he pressed a few keys on his keyboard and the door to the hallway lifted open. Elliette was instantly on her feet at the sweet sight of freedom. Everyone was rushing to the door a quickly as possible. Elliette looked over quickly to see Daryl making his way to the door and headed toward the door also.

The group was running down the hallway to grab their things from the rooms as quickly as possible. Elliette slammed the door open and snatched up her duffle bag, quickly retrieving her hatchet from inside and slinging it across her chest. She wouldn’t get caught out there with no weapon again. With her things in hand she sprinted down the hallway and up to the lobby. Shane and Daryl tried busting out a window with their axes but they didn’t even leave a scratch. T-dog tried smashing a chair against it, not effecting it any either. Shane even tried shooting the window but the glass held strong. 

“Rick!” Carol suddenly piped up “I have something that might help!” she rifled through her bag frantically searching for something. She paused when she finally found it and held it out to him. “Your first night in camp I washed tour uniform, I found this in your pocket” it was a grenade. 

“Everyone get back!” Rick ordered taking the grenade. 

Elliette followed as everyone moved to the back of the room taking cover as Rick set the grenade and ran back to them quickly. The blast shattered the window and glass flew everywhere. 

“Everyone back to the cars! Hurry!” Rick ordered herding his family over to the window and helping them through.

Elliette waited her turn as everyone was rushing their way through the window. The last thing she needed was to get trampled by the others in their panic to get out if the building. She hurried through the window, her boots crunching on the broken glass all over the ground. Once she was safely through she took off running to the vehicles with her hatchet at the ready. A few walkers were stumbling around the area and she wasn’t getting eaten today. 

She brought her hatchet down oh a walker that got a little too close to her pausing only to pull it out of its skull. As she resumed running she noticed Daryl taking a walker out with his axe and started running beside her. 

She slowed a little as they made it to the vehicles. Daryl yanked open the door to his truck and ushered Elliette inside slamming it behind her. He ran around the truck jumping into the drivers seat quickly pulling Elliette down with him to take cover.

The blast was deafening, the force from the explosion shaking the truck violently. Elliette and Daryl waited a second before looking up at the scene. The building was completely destroyed. 

“That was a close one” her voice was shaky.

“Yea” Daryl said simply.  
He started the truck and followed the other vehicles as they pulled away from what used to be the CDC.


	7. Chapter 7

They had been traveling in silence for a little while. Elliette was lost in her thoughts, replaying what happened in the CDC with Jenner in her head. She suddenly remembered how Daryl had saved her from making a stupid mistake back there. She turned to look at him, noticing that he seemed to be deep in thought staring straight ahead. She took a moment observe him while he was distracted. He was definitely an attractive man, that she couldn’t deny. She had noticed it back when he and Merle had first joined the group. It didn’t matter to her back then though, she was too busy avoiding everyone. But now that she was letting her guard down, she couldn’t help but notice him. Her mind flashed back to the CDC when he pulled her off of Jenner. She was too angry at the time to notice, but looking back now she could remember how his strong arms felt around her waist, making her blush.

She quickly looked out the side window berating herself for thinking like that. She only just decided to open up to these people! She couldn’t be having thoughts like that about Daryl! This was completely unacceptable! She was only supposed to be letting them in a little bit, she couldn’t afford to let him come barging through like this. She was already going against everything she ever knew by trying to become one with the group but this thing with Daryl, these feelings, that needed to stop right then and there. She would never let someone that close to her again.

The line of vehicles slowly came to a stop just outside of the city, abandoned cars all along the highway around them. Everyone hopped out of their cars looking a little worse for wear. They decided to scavenge the area for supplies before heading out to Fort Benning. Daryl and T-dog decided to collect gas from the abandoned vehicles in the area. Elliette had searched a few cars and managed to find a few bottles of water, a pocket knife that she’d decided to keep, and a few cans of vegetables. Once everyone was done they packed away their collected supplies. Daryl and T-dog had managed gather quite a bit of gas from the abandoned cars and, in an attempt to save on fuel, the decision was made to leave Daryl’s truck behind. Elliette watched him unload Merle’s motorcycle from the bed of the truck, her mind instantly wondering what ever happened to him. She had heard that he escaped the roof by cutting off his hand and that he stole the box truck back in Atlanta. She couldn’t help but wonder how someone would be able to survive a world like this all alone with only one hand. But she also knew Merle was tough, she doubted losing a hand would do much to slow him down.

“What?” Daryl’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Apparently she had been staring a little too long.

“Nothing, sorry.” She shrugged trying not to show her embarrassment from getting caught watching him.

“Didn’t look like nuthin” he shot back.

“I was just thinking about Merle” she said nonchalantly.

“Merle? The hell you thinkin bout him for?” he growled. That was a strange reaction Elliette thought.

“That’s his bike ain’t it” she pointed to the motorcycle. He raised an eyebrow at her and nodded.

“It just reminded me about him is all” she shrugged. “I was just wondering how he might be getting along out there with just one hand. It cant be easy.” Elliette looked off in the distance. 

Daryl didn’t say anything, just stood there watching her. Feeling uncomfortable under his gaze she made her way over to the truck to grab her bag and move it to a different vehicle, feeling his eyes on her the whole time. When she was done she made her way up to Rick and Shane informing them that she’d be riding in the RV. She sure as hell wasn’t riding on that motorcycle with Daryl, not with all the inappropriate thoughts swimming around her head today. She needed to distance herself from Daryl until she could get a grip on herself.

Everyone was finally situated and they were back on the road again. Elliette was sitting at the table in the RV reading a book she’d found lying on the counter. It wasn’t great, but it kept her mind busy and helped pass the time. She refused to sit there stewing in her thoughts, that would only drive her crazy. She had managed to get through a few chapters before she felt the RV slowing. She looked out the front window and saw a mass of vehicles blocking the road ahead. Daryl passed them on his motorcycle trying to find a way through as they crept slowly behind. They hadn’t made it far before smoke started pouring from the engine of the RV, forcing them to stop in the middle of the highway. 

Everyone got out of their vehicles once again, frustrated with all the delays today. They all gathered near the front of the RV watching as Dale opened the front and started to fiddle with the engine, Glenn handing him the tools he needed. 

“Well if we’re gonna be here for a while, we might as while search for supplies” Shane sighed.

“I’ll try and syphon more gas” T-dog added.

Everyone dispersed putting themselves to work. Elliette noticed Lori and Carol side eying her as she walked past them and the children. It seemed they would be a little tougher to get along with now. Elliette ignored them and continued over to the nearest car. She searched through the front seats and the glove compartment not finding anything useful. She moved to the back then to the trunk still finding nothing. She sighed and made her way over to the next vehicle repeating the process.

She searched several more cars, finding only a few bottles of water, a box knife, and a pack of crackers that were probably stale. She walked back to the RV to drop off what she’d found before making her way back out to search more cars. She hadn’t made it far before she heard Rick calling in a frantic whisper for everyone to hide. Looking to see what the trouble was she noticed a huge herd of walkers heading down the highway right for them. She immediately dropped to the ground and slid under the nearest car. She looked around and noticed Lori, Carl, and Sophia hiding under some of the cars not far from her. 

She looked forward seeing the decaying feet coming down the highway. There had to be a hundred walkers shuffling together in the herd. She shut her eyes and held her breath as they slowly ambled by, the growling and hissing sent chills down her spine. She laid completely still, afraid even one tiny move would draw the attention of the herd. After several minutes it seemed that most of the walkers had passed with just a few stragglers still poking around. Suddenly she heard a scream and by the time she looked over she saw Sophia being chased into the woods by walkers and Rick not far behind them. Without thinking Elliette rolled out from under the car and was on her feet in an instant. She sprinted after them quickly jumping over the guard rail and going the direction she had seen Rick go.

By the time Elliette had managed to catch up with them Rick was desperately trying to convince Sophia to stay hidden in the creek.

“What’s going on?” Elliette huffed a little from running. Rick seemed surprised to see her and Sophia stiffened a little.

“I need her to stay hidden so I can draw the walkers off.” He said quickly.

“Ill stay with her, you go ahead” she said moving down to where they were in the creek. He nodded and immediately left them behind to go kill the walkers. 

Elliette noticed Sophia clutching her doll looking terrified. She pulled out the pocket knife she’d found back on the highway and held it out to her. Sophia just looked at it with a confused expression.

“Take it. To keep you safe.” She said. Sophia nodded and took the knife from her holding it tightly in front of her. 

“Good, let’s get moving” Elliette said. She helped Sophia out of the creek and began leading the way back to the highway. 

They had been walking in silence for a few minutes when Sophia started fiddling with the knife. Elliette watched her from the corner of her eye, as she opened it and inspected the blade. Suddenly a look of determination crossed her face, she gripped the knife firmly. She lunged for Elliette sinking the blade into her left thigh. Elliette screamed in pain and stumbled to the ground as Sophia quickly turned around and ran away, heading deeper into the woods.

“Sophia!?!” Elliette yelled after in complete confusion. “Shit!” she cursed wondering what the hell had just happened. She quickly pulled the knife from her leg, thankful it wasn’t a very long blade, and took off after Sophia. She was limping because of the wound on her leg, she couldn’t keep up with Sophia. The little girl was fast that was for sure.

“Sophia!” She called out frantically looking all around. What the hell had come over her? Why would she run away from her like that? Any why the hell did she freaking stab her?

Elliette was desperately searching for any signs of the little girl anywhere. What if something bad happened to her? She didn’t have any weapons, she couldn’t defend herself. That’s why Elliette had volunteered to stay with her in the first place, to protect her. Now she was out there all alone. Carol would definitely never forgive her if anything happened to Sophia while she was in her care. There was no option for her to go back to camp, not without that little girl.

She looked down at her blood soaked jeans and decided to take a short break to take care of the wound. She would have no chance of finding Sophia if she passed out from blood loss. She settled herself down at the base of a tree inspecting her leg. The cut wasn’t big but it was deep and it was bleeding a lot. Sighing she ripped the bottom of her shirt off and tied it around the wound to help stop the bleeding. She pulled herself back to her feet and continued her search for the girl.

Elliette had been wandering around aimlessly for hours. In her frantic search for Sophia she had only managed to get herself hopelessly lost. The sun had set a while ago and it was nearly impossible to see where she was going in the dark. The distant sound of a walker growling set her on edge and she gripped the knife firmly. She needed a safe place to hide and rest for a while. Looking around the small area she found a tree with branches low enough for her to climb, she decided it was as good a place as any.

She slowly made her way to the tree, already exhausted from searching the woods all day. She reached for the lowest branch and managed to hoist herself up. She continued slowly climbing until she reached the middle of the tree. It was high enough that nothing could grab her feet and the branches would conceal her from view. Settling on the thickest branch she could find she slowly shifted herself around where she was facing the trunk of the tree. She straddled the branch and wrapped her arms around the tree in a bear hug. She rested her head against the rough bark drifting off into a restless sleep.

She was startled awake by the sound of church bells. She looked around realizing she had slept for a long time, it was almost the middle of the day. She sat there for a while, trying to decide whether she should go check out the bells or not. Finally deciding that it could be Sophia, she decide to go find where the noise had come from. She slowly climbed down, branch by branch, being careful of her injured leg. She was almost to the bottom, when she shifted her weight to the next branch a sudden crack sounded through the air. Suddenly the branch she was on snapped under her weight sending her tumbling straight down. She hit the ground with a thud, hitting her head against the branch that had fallen with her. She laid there watching the world spin before it slowly faded to black.


	8. Chapter 8

When Elliette woke up all she could feel was pain. Her head felt like it would explode if she moved too quickly and her whole body felt sore. She gingerly rolled onto her side her muscles protesting the movement. She slowly pulled herself up to a sitting position her head throbbing painfully. A wave of nausea rolled over her and she immediately began heaving, nothing really coming up since she hadn’t eaten since breakfast back at the CDC. As she looked around she noticed that it was almost sunset. She cursed, realizing that she had lost the whole day. 

She crawled over to the tree and used it to steady herself so she could try to stand, but as soon as she did the world was spinning and she was stumbling back down. Sighing she settled against the base of the tree taking deep breaths to help push back the nausea. She gently rubbed her head wincing when her fingers grazed over a large cut on the right side. When she pulled her hand back she noticed the blood on her fingers from the cut. 

“Can’t catch a damn break” Elliette mumbled to herself. She leaned her head back against the tree looking around, trying to figure out which way she had come from. Nothing looked familiar of course, it was pitch dark when she had made her way through this area. If she could remember which way she came from she might be able to find her way back to the highway, but it was hopeless. She hadn’t spent a single day of her life in the woods before the end of the world, she was completely out of her element here. It would be a miracle if she survived through this. 

Hearing a twig snap in the distance jerked her back to reality. The sun had almost set now and visibility was seriously limited, she had to get up and get moving. She had already been in this same damn spot all day and it was pure dumb luck that no walkers had come across her while she was unconscious. Bracing herself against the tree again she stood up slowly, taking care not to strain her injured leg. Once she was up and the world had quit spinning she pulled out the pocket knife holding it at the ready just in case something tried to sneak up on her in the dark. As soon as she felt steady on her feet she started off in a random direction, hobbling slowly on her injured leg. 

As she ambled along she heard another twig snap behind her. Her heart was beating out of her chest as she quickly stumbled over to the nearest tree, leaning against it for support. The familiar smell of death and sounds of moaning put her on high alert as she strained her eyes in the dark. She watched as the walker shuffled through the trees aimlessly, not realizing she was even there. Not taking any chances she waited for it to move past her then, as quietly as possible, she snuck behind it plunging the knife into the base of it’s skull. The walker immediately fell to the ground in front of Elliette as she sighed with relief. She grasped the handle of the knife to pull it out of the walkers skull, but it wouldn’t budge. She pulled harder then the handle suddenly broke apart from the blade sending Elliette falling backwards. She landed on her butt, surprised for a minute, before looking at the broken knife handle in her hand. 

“You no good, sorry ass mother fucker!” she cursed the knife. “Been nothing but bad luck since I found you!” she tossed the broken handle at the dead walker in frustration. 

Huffing she began crawling over to the nearest tree to repeat her process of standing up. She was still too unsteady on her feet to attempt standing up without holding onto something sturdy. Once she was on her feet she took a minute to figure out her next move. She was alone, injured, and hopelessly lost and now to top it off she had no weapon. She wanted to smack herself for forgetting her hatchet back on the highway. She swore to herself if she survived this, she would carry that damn hatchet everywhere with her from then on. Like how Daryl was with his crossbow, she thought.

She chuckled at herself. What she would give to have Daryl here with her right now, this was his area of expertise. He would have known the way back to the highway, no problem. She sighed quietly, this was no time to start zoning out. The truth of the matter was that Daryl wasn’t there. She had gotten herself into this mess and now she would have to get herself out of it. There was no other option.

She took a few deep breaths and continued slowly making her way through the dark woods. She had no idea where she was going but if she kept walking in one direction she would come across something eventually right? That was the hope she was holding onto as she trudged her way through the woods surrounded by darkness.

Elliette had been slowly making her way through the dense trees for a few hours when she took a step and panicked when her foot was met with open air. She grasped desperately for a nearby tree, clinging to it as she regained her balance. She looked down and realized there was a large drop off in front of her but she couldn’t see what was at the bottom. She quickly backed up and headed in a different direction afraid of possibly falling down there. She already had a stab wound, probably a concussion, and was extremely dehydrated. She didn’t really need to add falling off a cliff to her list of reasons she might die out here.

She thought of how hungry and thirsty she was but it had only managed to slow her down even more. Her stomach growled and her throat burned causing her to sigh with frustration. She had been wandering around in these God forsaken woods most of the night and she was exhausted. Deciding she needed a break she began searching around for a safe place to rest for a while.

She made her way through the trees a little farther coming to a small clearing. She was surprised to see an old farm house sitting there in front of her. She was about to make her way inside when she realized she didn’t have any weapons. If there were any walkers inside she would be defenseless. Quickly knocking that idea, she decided instead to find a safe place near the farm house and continue in the morning. It would be good to have a landmark to help her remember which way she had come from. She made her way around the edge of the clearing looking for a good place to hide, ruling out anymore trees. She had moved around toward the back of the house when she came across a large patch of tall grass. It wasn’t ideal but the grass came up above her knee so she could easily lie down in the middle and be hidden for a while. She quickly moved herself to the patch of grass and got comfortable falling asleep almost instantly.

“Sophia!” 

Elliette was suddenly pulled back to consciousness by the sound of someone yelling. She sat up quickly, instantly sending the world into a tailspin. She had a hard time trying to focus on anything, but she could tell it was already well into the day. She didn’t know who yelled, she just knew she needed to get to the voice. Whoever it was had called out for Sophia so it had to be someone from her group. She pulled herself unsteadily to her feet, forcing her protesting body to stay upright. Her mind was clearing a little as she shuffled her way toward where the voice had come from. As she slowly moved around a tree she stopped in her tracks when she came face to face with the business end of a crossbow.

“Elliette?” he sounded almost unsure.

“Daryl” she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as he lowered his crossbow. Elliette had never been so happy to see anyone before in her whole life.

“What the hell happened to ya? We been out here for days lookin for you and Sophia!” he said angrily.

“I’m not really sure what happened myself.” She mumbled “do you have any water?” she asked hopefully thanking the heavens when he handed her a half full bottle. She leaned against the tree and sipped the water, not wanting to make herself sick, sighing when she felt the relief from her burning throat.

“Thank you” she said handing him what was left of the water.

“You ok to walk?” he asked quickly “need to get you looked at. You look like hell” Elliette nodded amusedly at his comment and followed him as they began walking.

She was having trouble keeping up with his pace, her leg was stiff and sore and it was really slowing her down. She didn’t complain though, she just wanted to make it back to the highway in one piece.

“How much further to the highway” she huffed. She was losing her energy quickly trying to keep up with him.

“Ain’t going back to the highway” he slowed a little, noticing how tired she was.

“What? Where are we going then?” she looked at him confused. He was about to answer when Elliette’s injured leg suddenly buckled under her weight and she yelped as she went face first into the ground. 

“Ugh, ow” she mumbled as Daryl helped her back up.

“The hell happened to you anyway” he said supporting her weight as they continued walking, much slower this time.

“A cursed pocket knife” Elliette muttered laughing slightly at how immaturely she acted toward the knife the night before.

“How much blood have you lost?” he asked confused.

“I’m fine” she assured him. “Found an old pocket knife back on the highway.” She paused to take a breath. “Gave it to Sophia before we headed back to the highway, just in case.” She sighed “I don’t know what came over her, but half way back to the highway she stabs me in the leg and tears off into the woods all alone.” She sighed. 

“Somethin don’t seem right about that” he muttered taking her by surprise. She stopped in her tracks yanking her arm away from him.

“You saying I stabbed myself?” she asked her guard instantly back up. Hadn’t she already proved that she had no reason to lie.

“I never said that” he said forcefully. 

“Then what are you saying” she demanded.

“It just don’t sit right that she’d do sumthin like that.” He said.

“Haven’t I already proven that I have no reason to lie to you people!? For God sakes, I spent three days lost in the woods looking for that girl!” she raised her voice at him in anger. “What reason would I have to do this to myself!?” she gestures to herself, her hair was matted and bloody, blood smeared down the side of her face, her shirt was torn, the torn piece binding the wound on her leg where a large blood stain worked its way down her pants leg.

“I never said you were lyin” he raised his voice back at her. “If you’d shut the hell up for a minute I coulda told ya that!”

Elliette glared at him unsure if she wanted to be happy he wasn’t calling her a liar or pissed because he’d just told her to shut the hell up. 

“All I said was sumthin wasn’t right about it.” He clarified.

She sighed, not having the energy to continue fighting with him. 

“Fine” she huffed and began limping ahead of him. She just wanted to get out of these damned woods already.

“So yer cursed knife cut yer head too?” he asked pulling her arm over his shoulders and snaking his arm around her waist to help her walk. If she hadn’t been feeling like a total train wreck she might have blushed, but right now she was just thankful for the help.

“Nah, I fell out of a tree” she said plainly. “Though, if we’re going with the cursed knife theory…” she chuckled. 

“So if we’re not going back to the highway, where are we going” she asked again.

“A farm. Not too far from here.” He answered.

“Alright” she breathed, not feeling up to talking anymore. 

They fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way toward the farm.


	9. Chapter 9

Daryl and Elliette had finally made it to the tree line and she was completely exhausted. A large field still lay between them and the white farm house in the distance, much to Elliette’s dismay. 

“I thought you said it wasn’t far” Elliette huffed. 

“You’ll be ok. Ya made it this far” he said lightly. She nodded once as they continued on.

They were about halfway through the field when Elliette noticed some of the others running up to meet them in the field. Rick, Shane, Glenn, and T-dog came to a halt in front of them, Lori, Andrea, and Dale stood in the distance watching them. 

“Elliette!” Rick said surprised.

“What the hell happened out there?” Shane demanded.

“We looked everywhere for you” Rick said. “Why isn’t Sophia with you?”

“I know. Its kinda complicated” Elliette sighed. She really wasn’t in the mood for a million questions at the moment.

“Are you ok?” Glenn asked.

“I’ve been better” Elliette answered him with a raised eyebrow. 

“We should get you inside” Rick quickly moved to her other side. “We’ll have Herschel take a look at you, then we can talk”

“Herschel?” she asked as Rick and Daryl helped get her to the house, the others trailing behind. 

“He’s a doctor” Rick answered. “This is his farm”

“Is that Elliette?” Andrea called out as they approached them.

“Yea, Daryl found her!” Rick answered as they made their way past them. 

“What in the world happened out there?” Dale asked in surprise.

“We need to let Herschel take a look at her first” Rick cut off the questions as they approached the house where a group of unfamiliar people were watching them from the porch.

“Take her to the guest room down the hall.” Said the older man who Elliette assumed was Herschel.

Daryl and Rick helped Elliette into the house and brought her to the guest room. They let go of her so she could sit on the bed, Daryl moved to one side of the room and leaned against the wall and Rick sat in a chair in the corner of the room. Herschel came in a minute later with his medical kit to check her over. She pulled her hair back carefully so he could look at the cut on the side of her head first.

“Any worse and it would have needed stitches” he told her dabbing it with alcohol to clean it. She winced a little as the alcohol stung her cut.

“Lucky me” she muttered. Herschel ignored her comment instead turned to the two men who were watching them carefully from the other side of the room. 

“I’m gonna need y’all to step out for a minute.” He told them politely but firmly. “I need to have a look at her leg”

The men obediently left the room so Herschel could continue his check up. 

“I’ll need you to take your pants off so I can see your leg” he handed her a bath towel “you can use this to cover yourself” he said before leaving the room to give her some privacy. She quickly pulled her pants off, wrapped the towel around herself, and sat back on the bed.

“Ok, I’m ready” She called out so he could come back in. He stepped inside shutting the door behind him and got right to work cleaning the wound on her leg. 

“This one is going to need a few stitches” he said preparing the needle. She shut her eyes while he stitched her up and let her mind wander to distract from the pain. She thought about Sophia, wondering if she was ok. Where could she possibly have run off to that no one had managed to find her yet. It was lucky Daryl was out searching for Sophia or she would have never run into him and she would still be lost out there.

“All done” Herschel said wrapping gauze around her leg to protect the stitches.

“Thank you” she said once he was finished.

“You’re welcome, just be careful putting your pants back on” he advised her before stepping out of the room again. She quickly slipped her pants back on, carefully pulling them over her bandages. Once she was dressed she folded the towel up and sat back down on the bed with a sigh.

“Y’all can come back in” she called out knowing Daryl and Rick were still waiting for a chance to talk to her. She watched as the door opened and Daryl and Rick made their way back to their previous spots, but this time Shane was with them too. She fidgeted under Daryl’s watchful stare as Rick and Shane seemed to have a quick silent conversation.

“So…” she said quietly, grabbing all of their attention. “I guess y’all want to know what happened.”

“Daryl already told us what happened with Sophia” Rick said. 

“Oh.” She said quietly.

“Why didn’t you just come back to the highway?” Shane asked.

“Shane.” Rick said warningly.

“I couldn’t just leave her out there” she said defensively. 

“Just look where it got you though!” he seemed to be getting frustrated.

“So I was supposed just leave?” she asked incredulously “I should have just cut my losses and gone back? And say what to her mother exactly, ‘Oh she ran away and I couldn’t be bothered to go after her'?” she asked angrily.

“That’s enough” Rick said sternly to the two of them. Shane glared at him then Elliette before leaving the room angrily.

“What’s his deal?” Elliette asked confused by Shane’s attitude. Rick didn’t answer but just shook his head. Elliette opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted by her stomach making a loud growling sound. Her face instantly blushed, embarrassedly.

“I’ll have Lori bring you something to eat” Rick chuckled getting up and leaving the room leaving her and Daryl alone.

“You don’t have to stay here ya know” she said quietly.

“Yea, I know” he said moving to sit in the chair. 

“Thank you” Elliette said quickly.

“What for?” He asked confused.

“For helping me so much” she said “In the woods, and back at the CDC. I never did thank you for that.”

“Was nothin” he said shrugging.

A knock on the door suddenly interrupted them as Lori came in with a plate of food for Elliette.

“Rick wants to talk to you” she said to Daryl as she set the plate on the table for Elliette. 

“Thank you” Elliette said to Lori with a smile as she watched the two of them leave the room. As soon as they were gone Elliette tore into the food, finishing it in record time. She never thought food had tasted so good until she went a few days without it. With her hunger satisfied, she felt sleepiness come over her. She’d had an exhausting few days and it was really catching up with her. Elliette curled up on the bed and snuggled her face into the pillow, falling asleep quickly.  
~  
Elliette was lurking around the hotel quietly. This was just supposed to be a quick job, in and out before anyone even noticed her. She spotted the service entrance that she’d been looking for.

“Finally” she muttered to herself as she moved quickly over to the door. She quietly slipped inside and made her way down the hallway. She came to the end of the hall where it split off into two separate directions. She looked left and saw that it led to the elevators, to the right was a large set of double doors. She decided to see what was behind those doors before making her way upstairs.

She moved over to the doors, quietly pulling one open and peeking inside. She had to hold back a cheer as she realized this was a locker room for the employees. There was bound to be a uniform in here she could use, that would really make the task of getting upstairs without being noticed a lot easier. She quickly made her way through the room checking every locker until she found exactly what she was looking for. She quickly pulled on the uniform on over her clothes, moving her gun to the waist band of the uniform pants so it would be easy to get to.

Once she was done dressing she took a quick glance in a mirror that was mounted on the wall. She looked just like any normal hotel employee, she couldn’t help but smile at that. She looked normal. What she would give to be normal, to be able to go out and do whatever she wanted with her life without worrying about looking over her shoulder for someone who might be coming to kill her. But that could never happen, she reminded herself, they would just hunt her down and bring her back just like the other times she tried running away. She would always be trapped in this life and there’s nothing she could do about it. She sighed in frustration at her silly thoughts. She would never be normal so there was no use wasting time daydreaming about it. She needed to stay focused and get the job done or she would be facing a serious punishment when she got back.

Focusing her mind back on the business at hand, she quickly checked that her gun wasn’t visible and made her way out of the locker room confidently. She strolled up to the elevators like any other employee would, acting the part in a situation like this was key to not getting caught. The doors slid open and she stepped aside to let two women wearing maid uniforms out before she stepped in and pressed the button for the fifth floor. As the elevator began moving slowly she went over her plan again in her head. 

Her main target was Antonio Marino, a short pudgy man who was pretty high in the chain of command of the Moretti family. They had failed to pay back a loan to her boss, so they had sent her here to “collect”. She was told it would be him, another man, and likely two or three bodyguards and she was to wipe them out as a way to send a message to their boss. She would have to be really careful not to her distracted so one of them couldn’t sneak up on her.

The elevator doors opened with a ding and Elliette made her way down the hallway quietly. She noticed a food cart in the hallway and quickly grabbed it pushing it carefully in front of her, now she wouldn’t just be knocking on the door for no apparent reason, much less suspicious. She came up to the door she was looking for and knocked, quickly moving the cart between her and the door.

“Room service!” she called out politely waiting patiently. As soon as the door began to open she quickly shoved the cart as hard as she could into the doorway, knocking over whoever was behind it. She drew her gun from her pants and immediately shot him in the head, thankful that she had thought to bring a silencer or the hotel would be crawling with cops before she could even finish the job. She didn’t hesitate after shooting the first man, moving quickly she shot two more before they could even realize what was happening. Three bodyguards down she counted in her head as she moved closer to the short pudgy man she recognized as her target. 

“Where’s the other guy” she whispered, in case he was hiding somewhere waiting for her. She watched as Antonio raised a shaky hand and pointed to the bathroom door that was shut. 

“Thanks” she said before pulling the trigger and watching his body fall limply to the floor. She loudly moved over to the room door, making her footsteps easily heard, and slammed it shut before quietly sneaking to the bathroom door and waiting with her gun ready. She watched as the bathroom door creaked open and she was met with a face she thought she would never see again.

“It can’t be” he whispered to himself.

“Dad?”


	10. Chapter 10

She watched as the bathroom door creaked open and she was met with a face she thought she would never see again.

“It can’t be” he whispered to himself.

“Dad?”

~

Elliette’s eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly. It had been a long time since she dreamt of her old life. Looking out the window she realized it was early morning, the sun was just rising. She rubbed her face and realized there were tears on her cheeks. She had been crying? She sighed and ran her hands through her hair, being careful of the cut on the side of her head. 

“You alright?” Daryl’s voice caught her off guard making her jump.

“Jeez, you scared me!” she breathed.

“Sorry” he muttered shrugging.

“I’m fine” she said looking back down at her hands. Her dreams didn’t usually bother her so much but she couldn’t seem to shake this one, it just kept replaying in her head.

“Don’t look fine to me” he said looking her over, noticing the tear streaks on her cheeks and her shaking hands.

“It was just a dream, it was nothing” she said quietly trying to ignore the feeling of his eyes on her when a sudden realization hit her.

“What are you doing here anyway?” she asked curiously. He seemed a little uncomfortable, like he was trying to think of something to say.

“Rick asked me to check on ya” he said quickly, suddenly finding the wallpaper very interesting.

“Oh, ok” she nodded. 

“What was yer dream about?” he changed the subject back to her.

“My life. From before” she answered vaguely.

“About yer Dad?” he asked. Elliette’s head snapped up, her green eyes meeting his piercing blue ones. “Ya talk in yer sleep”

“What did I say?” she asked staring him down. She needed to know how much he had heard, how much she had said. She hadn’t told them everything back at the CDC for a reason.

“Enough ta know you still ain’t telling us sumthin” he said firmly, never breaking eye contact.

“Shit” Elliette sighed looking down and running her hand through her hair. 

“So” Daryl said expectantly.

“So, what?” she said pretending not to know what he wanted. He gave her a flat look, not buying her act.

“Its not that simple ok.” She sighed in exasperation “I can’t just come out with all the dirty details of my life like this. It would only make things harder.” 

“Make what harder?” 

“Trying to be part of the group.” She answered simply. She noticed him watching her with a questioning look. “They don’t trust me. Hell, I doubt half of them even wanted me to stay after the CDC.”

“You don’t know that”

“Yes, I do. I’ve seen the way they look at me when they think I don’t notice. Lori and Carol act like I’m some crazed maniac that’s one step away from snatching their kids and shooting up the whole camp.” She said frustrated. When he didn’t answer, she knew he had noticed it too.

“That’s why I went after Sophia. I’m not what they think I am. I don’t know why she would stab me, but that’s still no reason to abandon her.” She said sliding back to lean against the headboard of the bed.

“It was Carol.” Daryl said catching her attention.

“Carol?” she asked confused.

“Me n Rick went to talk to her, let her know about Sophia.” He said sitting up a little straighter. “She says she told Sophia you were dangerous, that she needed to stay away from you.”

“You gotta be kidding me!” Elliette sat up furiously. “After what she accused me of back of the CDC, then she goes telling Sophia stuff like that!” her voice steadily raising. 

“She didn’t know what ta think is all” he cut off her ranting. “None of us did” he added quickly.

“The hell is that supposed to mean?” she scoffed crossing her arms angrily.

“It means that fer weeks we all thought you were just this little shy girl who don’t talk much. Then outta nowhere you were beatin up on guys twice yer size and shootin people in the head.” He said sternly, staring her down. “Then we find out about yer past, none of us were expectin sumthin like that.” Elliette sighed realizing he was right.

“Well you seem to be handling all of this freakishly well” she mumbled.

“I ain’t afraid of a dinky little thing like you” he said chuckling at the dirty look she shot him.

“Watch it with the short jokes or next time I punch you, it’ll leave more than just a little bruise” she said angrily.

“Calm down Dinky” he continued to pick at her. She glared at him, not happy about the new nickname. 

“What do I do about the group?” she changed the subject.

“Give em time” he shrugged, “its all you can do.”

She looked out the window again, the sun was all the way up now. “Are y’all going back out today?” she asked quietly.

“Should be leavin soon” he said. “Don’t you even think of askin ta come along neither.” He said firmly.

She couldn’t help but to laugh at that. “Trust me, I’d rather die than go back into those stupid woods again” she shook her head. “I’ll stick around here where I can’t get lost.”

“I best be headin out” he said standing up. “Don’t do nuthin stupid while I’m gone Dinky.” 

“Yea, yea” she waved him off, seems like he wasn’t giving up on that stupid nickname. She watched as he made his way out the room shutting the door quietly behind him.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and noticed she was still wearing her dirty bloody clothes. She stood carefully, testing out her leg. It was a little sore but nothing she couldn’t handle. She made her way out of the room and down the hall carefully. She was almost to the front door when a girl around her age with short brown hair came inside almost colliding with her.

“Oh sorry!” Elliette apologized moving out of the way.

“Its ok.” She said. “Your Elliette right? I’m Maggie.” She introduced herself. 

“I appreciate y’all opening your home to us.” She said politely.

“Well it’s the least we could do after what happened to Carl” 

“Wait what? What happened to Carl?” Elliette asked confused.

“Oh, right. He got shot back in the woods. It was an accident” Maggie explained quickly.

“Oh God, is he ok?” Elliette’s stomach dropped at the news.

“He is. He’s resting right now, but he’ll be on his feet in no time.” Maggie reassured her. Elliette breathed a sigh of relief.

“Where were you headed? You should be resting too.” 

“Was gonna get some clean clothes, try to wash up some” Elliette said motioning to her filthy clothes.

“We have a shower you can use. If you’d like I can ask Lori to bring you your clothes” she said.

“That would be great” Elliette smiled.

Maggie ushered her upstairs, showing her to the bathroom and leaving her in privacy. Elliette turned on the shower, letting the water run to get hot and began peeling off her dirty clothes. She carefully got into the shower trying not to get her stitches wet, and scrubbed herself clean. She stood there enjoying the feeling of the hot water running over her for a few more minutes before shutting the water off. She dried herself with a fresh towel and wrapped it around herself tightly. She cracked the bathroom door open and grabbed the pile of clothes that had been left right outside the door before shutting it again. She slipped into the clean clothes being careful around her stitches. Quickly folding her dirty clothes together so she could wash them later, she left the bathroom and made her way outside.

Once she was outside she looked around at the farm. It was truly beautiful, completely untouched by the horrors of the world. It was amazing that a place like this could exist in times like these. It gave Elliette hope that maybe they would be able to find a good safe place to make their own some day. She doubted this family would want their group squatting on their farm forever.

She carefully stepped down from the porch and made her way over to where the group had set up camp. She noticed someone had set her tent up for her as she got closer and made her way over to it. She peeked inside and saw her things placed neatly inside, her hatchet sitting right on top. She quickly tossed her dirty clothes aside and grabbed her hatchet, slipping it into her belt. She had promised herself back in the woods that she would carry it around everywhere with her and she planned to stick with it. She was tired of getting into trouble without it.

“I hope its all there” Glenn’s voice came from outside her tent. 

“It is, thank you” Elliette said stepping out of the tent. 

“It was Daryl’s idea” he confessed shyly.

Elliette chuckled at him. “Well, thanks anyway” she smiled. Maybe it was the relief of being somewhere safe or just the fact that someone was making an effort to be social with her but she was in a really good mood at the moment. 

“No problem” he said almost nervously.

“Glenn, can I talk to you about something for a minute?” she asked him lightly. 

“Yea, I guess” he said hesitantly.

She motioned for him to follow her and led him to the porch of the house. She sat in a rocking chair and watched as he sat in the one next to it facing her.

“so what’s up?” he asked.

 

“I-” she hesitated. She wasn’t really sure what she wanted to talk to him about. She just wanted to take the opportunity to try to get to know him.

“Its because we’ve been weird around you right? It’s not that we don’t want you here, I mean we decided to let you stay with us because we like you. We just don’t know how to act I guess, I mean what do you say to someone after they tell you something like tha-”

“Glenn!” she cut off his nervous rambling. “Its ok, I get it.” She said with a laugh.

“Y-You do?” He stuttered.

“I didn’t at first” she confessed “but me and Daryl had a talk and he explained it from y’alls point of view.” she ran her hand through her hair carefully. 

“Daryl did?” Glen asked incredulously.

She giggled at his tone “yea, he did. And unfortunately I might have picked up a new nick name too” she mumbled quietly to herself. 

“What?” he said laughing lightly. “what is it?” he asked.

“Nope. Not telling. Last thing I need is for it to stick” she frowned. 

“Now you have to tell me!” he said “if Daryl picked it, its gotta be interesting.”

“I’ll tell you on one condition” she said with a smile.

“What?” he asked curiously.

“Be my first real friend” she said.

“Seriously?” he asked confused.

“I’ve never had a real friend before” she said quietly.

He looked at her for a minute before a smile lit up his face. “Sure!” he said holding his hand out. Elliette laughed and shook his hand like they were making a business deal.

“Ok come on, I need to hear this new nickname” he said.

“Dinky” she mumbled, huffing at Glenn as he burst out laughing.


	11. Chapter 11

After Glenn had laughed at her nickname until his sides hurt, she made him promise to keep it to himself and to never call her that. Elliette and Glenn sat on the porch for a little while longer laughing and talking. She found out he had sisters before, she could tell he missed them when he talked about them. When Maggie stepped out of the house Elliette couldn’t help but notice the blush that dusted Glenn’s cheeks. Shooting him a knowing smile she excused herself to give them some privacy.

Elliette wandered back to the camp noticing Lori and Carol hanging up some wet laundry to dry. She paused for a minute trying to decide if she should try talking to them. She still wasn’t happy about what Carol had told Sophia but she understood that she was just concerned for her daughter. She decided she needed to try to be nice to her, kill them with kindness she thought. If Carol still didn’t want to be around her, then that was on Carol. Besides she still needed to thank Lori for helping her when she probably didn’t want to. Making up her mind she made her way over them.

“Hey” she said catching their attention.

“Elliette, hey.” Lori said. Carol just watched her quietly.

“I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out” she said to Lori.

“Your welcome” she said with a small smile. 

“So, do y’all need any help?” Elliette asked

“We were about done actually” Lori shrugged.

“Are you any good in the kitchen?” Carol suddenly spoke up.

Elliette couldn’t help the smile that took over her face. “I know my way around a kitchen, though I’m better at baking than cooking” Elliette said thinking back to all the times she would bake cookies or make a cake for herself when she would be upset.

“We were thinking of making dinner for Herschel and his family tonight, if you’d like to help” she said.

“Sure, I’d love to!” Elliette said happily. She was glad to see that Carol was trying to get along also.

“Great, we’ll come find you when its time to start.” Lori said with a smile.

“Ok” Elliette said watching the two women make their way toward the house, probably to check that it was ok with the family before hand.

Elliette was happy. Things seemed to be looking up and she was happy that the people in the group were trying to be nice to her. She made her way over to the fire slowly, trying to figure out what to do. It was probably about noon so there were still a few hours at least before they needed to start cooking dinner. She suddenly remembered the book she had started before they got stuck on the highway. She had only read a few chapters before they had to stop, what better time to finish the book than now. 

She made her way over to the RV where Dale was sitting on top, keeping watch with a shot gun in his hands. She decided it might be better to ask permission before she just barged in and took the book, so she slowly climbed the latter on the back of the RV.

“Hey Dale” she said once she reached the top.

“Oh Elliette, I didn’t realize you were up and about yet.” Dale said a little surprised.

“Yep, had to get a few stitches but I’ll live.” She shrugged moving to sit on top of the RV with Dale.

“That’s good to hear.” He smiled. “So what happened out there? They already told us what happened with Sophia, but I know there’s more that happened to you than just that.” 

“I guess so.” She nodded. “Well I followed Sophia but I was too slow with this leg” she pointed to her leg “so I ended up just getting myself horribly lost” she laughed. “When it got dark I climbed a tree and slept there for a while, but when I tried to get down the next morning a branch broke and I fell, knocked myself out cold for a while too.” She said.

“So the blood on your head yesterday…”

“Yea I cut myself pretty good” she laughed. “When I woke up it was dark and I ended up wandering around for a while until I found the farmhouse that Daryl found me by” she explained. 

“Its s good thing he found you when he did. Who knows what could have happened to you if had been out there any longer” Dale said looking concerned. 

“Yea I know” she agreed. “I got lucky. I only hope Sophia is ok. She’s been out there for so long now.” She sighed.

“I know what you mean” he said. The conversation died down after that, both of them retreating into their own thoughts for a minute.

“Hey, Dale” Andrea's voice by the bottom of the RV caught their attention. T-dog and Andrea must have just gotten back from their search in the woods, she thought. Elliette and Dale made their way down the ladder of the RV.

“Oh, Elliette, I didn’t know you were up there too” Andrea said surprised. “Didn’t mean to interrupt”

“No, no. Its fine. I was actually just gonna ask if I could borrow a book to read” she said turning to Dale.

“Oh, yea. Go right ahead.” He said waving her toward the front of the RV. 

“Thanks” she smiled and went to find the book.

She looked around the RV, finding the book sitting on the table right where she had left it a few days ago. With the book in hand she left the RV and made her way over to the campfire, making herself comfortable in one of the chairs and picked up reading from where she left off.

She had been reading for a while and she had made it through a considerable chunk of the book when Lori’s voice snapped her back to reality.

“We’re ready to start cooking if you still wanted to help.” Lori informed her.

“Oh yea, I almost forgot.” She said putting down the book and standing up to follow Lori.

They made their way to the house and went inside to the kitchen. 

“So what do y’all want me to do?” she asked once they had made it to the kitchen.

“Well, we need help peeling and chopping potatoes. Then we though maybe you’d like to make something for desert since you said you prefer baking.” Lori said.

“Ok, sure” Elliette said with a smile. She picked up a knife and began peeling the potatoes carefully so she wouldn’t cut herself. 

They had been working on the potatoes for a little while and Elliette had finally peeled the last potato. She washed her hands quickly and moved aside so Lori could wash the potatoes that she had been chopping as Elliette peeled. She had just started looking through some ingredients to decide what she wanted to make for desert when a loud gunshot rang through the air.

Elliette followed behind Lori and Carol as they all quickly ran outside to see what was going on. 

“What’s going on here!?” Herschel yelled angrily.

Elliette noticed Andrea and Dale looking off into the distance from the RV. She turned and looked where they were looking and saw Rick and Shane carrying someone back toward the house while Glenn and T-dog followed quickly behind. As they got closer she felt her stomach twist when she realized it was an unconscious Daryl. He looked terrible, covered head to toe in dirt and mud and his side was bleeding badly. She watched as Rick and Shane hauled him inside the house quickly followed by Herschel and a blonde woman.

“It’ll be ok” Glenn’s voice startled her and she looked at him quickly.

“What?” she asked confused.

“Daryl. He’ll be fine. He’s tough.” He said reassuringly.

“Uum…ok…” Elliette said with a raised eyebrow. She wasn’t sure what he was telling her this for.

“Well, just now, the look on your face…it just-” 

“What look?” she furrowed her eyebrows.

“You looked like you were gonna cry. You seemed really worried.” He said.

“I did?” she asked. She couldn’t believe it. He nodded at her answering her question.

“Well, I mean, yea I’m worried. But so is everyone else too.” She told him. She mentally berated herself for being so easy to read. Now Glenn would go getting ideas in his head about her and Daryl that weren’t true, and more importantly were never going to happen. She had already decided that she couldn’t act on her feelings for Daryl, so there was no use even thinking about it.

“Not like that.” He said definitely. “That was different” he said with a knowing look. She just shook her head dismissively at him. She wouldn’t fuel his crazy ideas.

“Oh, come on!” he said “You can’t try to deny it! I mean now that I think about it, its kind of obvious” 

“Wait, what?” she looked at him.

“Well, yea. I mean, you guys have been spending an unusual amount of time together lately, and he was the one who told us to set up your tent for you too” He said thoughtfully. “And Daryl did seem pretty concerned over you last night, he did go back to check up on you too.” 

“Glenn, no. Just stop.” She said shaking her head. The way he was talking made it sound like Daryl was the one who had feelings for her. But that wasn’t true. It couldn’t be.

“Hey Elliette, are you still gonna help us with dinner?” Lori called to her from the porch.

“Yea I’m coming!” she called back to Lori before turning back to look at Glenn.

“Its no big deal, ya know.” Glenn said smiling “I actually think you guys will be good for each other.” 

“Well too bad for you, because there’s nothing going on between me and Daryl.” She told him seriously.

“Seriously?” he asked unbelievingly.

“Seriously” she said with a laugh. “We’re just friends, that’s it”

“Well I still think there’s something there” he said.

“Kinda like you and Maggie?” she said changing the subject.

“What?” He said, his face instantly blushing. 

“Don’t think I didn’t notice that!” she said teasingly. “Don’t worry, I think you two will be good for each other” she said throwing his own words back at him. She watched as he blushed red as a tomato and decided to give him a break.

“Don’t worry Glenn, I’m just kidding with you.” She patted his shoulder lightly. “But I’ve got to get going, I promised I’d help with dinner.” She patted his shoulder again before heading back up to the house.


	12. Chapter 12

By the time Elliette made it back inside all she could think about was what Glenn had said. She knew she had feelings for Daryl, that much she couldn’t deny. She wasn’t so naïve that she couldn’t recognize when she liked someone, but it was just a little crush. She had already decided that she would put those feelings away because nothing could ever happen. She didn’t want to let anyone that close to her. But Glenn’s words just kept bouncing around her head. He had really made it sound like Daryl was the one who liked her, and she knew that couldn’t be true. He barely even knew her. There’s no way Daryl could have feelings for her, he was just being nice to her after everything that’s happened. Glenn had to be misreading the situation, that’s all.

Satisfied with her conclusion that Glenn was just confusing Daryl’s kindness for something else, she decided to get back to work on desert. She looked through the kitchen to see what ingredients she could use to bake with. There was the basic stuff like flour, salt, and sugar, but there was no chocolate or fruit, nothing like that. She checked the fridge and there were eggs, and some home made butter. She decided she was going to have to do something different than the typical desert and went looking through the fresh vegetables that had been collected from the garden. She poked through them for a minute before finding two zucchinis. 

“Perfect!” she said smiling to herself.

“What’s perfect?” Carol's voice came from behind her.

“These” she held up the two zucchinis for Carol to see. 

“What are those supposed to be for?” Carol asked.

“Zucchini Cake!” Elliette smiled. “There’s no chocolate or anything so this is the next best thing.” She moved over to the counter and began grabbing her ingredients and set the oven to preheat.

“Zucchini Cake?” Lori chimed in from the other side of the kitchen.

“Yep! It sounds weird but its really good I promise.” Elliette said getting to work on peeling and shredding the zucchini. 

“If you say so” Lori said skeptically.

Elliette finished with the zucchini and began mixing her ingredients. She poured the batter into a pan and put it in the oven to bake, moving on to making the frosting. She decided a simple powdered sugar frosting would do just fine and got to making it. When the frosting was finished she set it aside for when the cake was done. 

Dinner was ready and everyone was sitting down to eat and Elliette decided to join them until the cake was ready. She sat down with her plate of food and looked around the dining room, no one was talking or even making eye contact. Carol quietly came in and sat down at the table after bringing a plate of food to Daryl. Elliette ate her food quietly, sending a silent thanks to the cake timer when it went off. She hurried out of the dining room and away from the painfully awkward atmosphere.

Elliette carefully pulled the cake out of the oven and put it in the fridge to cool. Deciding against rejoining the horribly awkward dinner, she decided to busy herself with washing a few dishes until the cake was cooled. After the dishes were done she pulled the cake out of the fridge and frosted it. 

“Is the cake finished?” Lori asked from the doorway.

“Yep, just finished it” Elliette said pulling out a knife. She cut some slices and put them on plates for whoever might want some. “Wanna be my official taste tester?” she asked handing Lori a slice of cake.

“I guess so” she took a small bite. “Wow that’s good” she laughed.

“I told you” Elliette said leaning against the counter to eat her own slice of cake. 

“You should bring one to Daryl” Lori said with a mischievous grin. Elliette almost choked on her cake at the look on Lori’s face. 

“What?” Elliette asked in shock.

“I’m sure he’d love a slice of cake” she said innocently.

“You’ve been talking to Glenn haven’t you?” Elliette huffed.

“No, but now I’m interested to know what Glenn has to say.” Lori said intrigued.

“Its nothing” Elliette said dismissively grabbing a piece of cake for Daryl and leaving the kitchen before Lori started getting crazy ideas like Glenn. She made her way down the hallway to the room Daryl was in, the same room she stayed in last night. She knocked on the door and waited a minute before entering. 

“What” he said rudely before turning to look at her.

“Well hi to you too” Elliette said sarcastically moving around the bed to sit in the chair.

“What do you want” he said grumpily.

She was a little confused by his bad attitude but she thought it might have just been because he was in pain. She set the cake on the table for him.

“I made a cake. Thought you might want some” she said. 

“Is that all?” he said quickly.

“Well, yea but-”

“Then why're you still here.” He cut her off.

“What’s your problem?” she asked angrily. Pain could only be used as an excuse for so long. 

“Your my problem!” he said angrily. “Why are you even still here? Just go!”

Elliette’s jaw dropped. She got up angrily and stormed out of the room slamming the door behind her. She didn’t know what the hell his problem was but she wasn’t going to stick around and let him talk to her like that. She stormed out of the house angrily and made her way to her tent. She plopped down on her sleeping bag and sighed angrily. She knew something like this would happen sooner or later, this is exactly why she wasn’t letting him get too close. She wasn’t going to open herself up to someone just to let them go and stomp on her feelings. 

She decided she was done thinking about Daryl, it was only pissing her off even more. She got up quickly and made her way back to where she was sitting by the fire earlier. She grabbed the book she had been reading and went to sit in a rocking chair on the far side of the porch. The light coming through the windows was enough that she could clearly see the pages in the dimming light outside. She picked up where she left off and let herself get lost in the book. 

She lost track of the time while she was reading and the sound of the door opening caught her attention, she looked over and saw Daryl quietly shutting it behind him. He looked up meeting her eyes. She shot him an angry look and went back to her book. She wasn’t letting things with Daryl go any further. It had already gone way further than she had ever intended it to and he turned out to be a jerk. She wasn’t going to let him hurt her. 

She continued reading her book not caring how late it was. By the time she reached the end everyone was already asleep. She made her way back to her tent zipping the door shut behind her. She pulled off her boots and pants tossing them aside. She took off her T-shirt and slipped a tank top on to sleep in. Elliette curled up inside her sleeping bag and quickly fell asleep.

~

“Boss wants to see you” Dimitri said. He was a tall thick man who wasn’t high on the chain of command but he was still over her. His job was to keep watch over her and make sure she didn’t try to run away again. He was a glorified babysitter. She stood from where she was sitting in her bedroom and followed him down the long hallway to the boss's office. Dimitri ushered her inside and shut the door behind them as she sat in a chair across the desk from her boss.

“Ellia, how nice to see you” he said in his thick Russian accent.

“Gregory” she said stiffly. Gregory Vasiliev was the leader of the largest sector of Russian organized crime in New York City. He was the most powerful, most feared, and the most ruthless man in the city.

“I think we need to have a little talk about your last job Ellia” he said. He always mispronounced her name even though she had corrected him several times. He told her he couldn’t be bothered with trivial matters and continued to say her name wrong just to bother her.

“What about it?” she asked nervously. If they knew what happened back at that hotel, they would probably kill her.

“I seems you failed to complete the job.” He said in a deadly serious tone. “The fifth man, why is he not dead?”

“Your orders were clear.” Dimitri chimed in “The Bodyguards, Antonio, and the man that was with them. You were supposed to kill ALL of them!” he said angrily.

“And now we have a serious problem” Gregory said angrily. “This man has seen your face! He knows who you are and your connection to us! The news is spreading quickly!” he growled out angrily.

“What?” she asked confused. He was supposed to keep his mouth shut! She had spared his life, despite what he had done to her all those years ago, and this is how he repays her for her kindness? So much for that blood is thicker than water bullshit! Now she was going to have to deal with the consequences of her actions. 

“You know what this means right?” Dimitri said stepping closer to her. She didn’t look at him but she could tell he was moving closer to her.

“Take her.” Gregory said waving nonchalantly “make sure she learns her lesson for good this time” he said. 

Dimitri quickly snatched her arms, pinning them behind her back and drug her out of the room roughly. She struggled against him kicking and screaming for someone, anyone to come help her, she knew it was pointless as they passed people in the hallway and they turned a blind eye to what was happening before them.

She fought against his hold on her arms with everything in her as they went down the dark staircase that lead to that room. The room they always brought her to when they punished her. It was just an extra storage room down in the basement of the large house they all lived in, but to Elliette it was her worst nightmare.

Dimitri pushed her roughly down the last of the stairs and drug her across the basement to the storage room as Elliette fought and struggled harder.

“No! Please no! No!” she screamed as he pushed her inside the room.

“Stop your whining” he said angrily “You brought this on yourself” he said grabbing her by her shirt and swiftly bringing his fist down into her face.

~

Elliette jumped up as someone shook her awake.

“Finally!” Daryl growled.

“Huh?” Elliette was still trying to make sense of the situation.

“You were screamin. I came ta shut you up before ya woke the whole damn camp” he said.

“Well, I’m up now.” She said angrily. She was still pissed at him for being a jerk and the dream she’d just had only worsened her mood.

“The hell was that about anyway?” he asked her.

“None of your business” she said flatly. He was still making no move to leave and she was only getting more irritated with him. “You can go now.” She waved him away like she was shooing a fly. Daryl stared her down intimidatingly then did something that made Elliette’s jaw nearly hit the floor. 

Daryl sat himself down on the floor of her tent, careful not to hurt his side, and laid back with his arms behind his head making himself comfortable.

“What’re you doing? Get out!” she hissed angrily.

“Nope.”

“Nope? What do you mean nope?! I told you to leave!” she said getting angrier.

“Ain’t goin nowhere Dinky.” He said calmly with his eyes closed. He looked like he could have been relaxed on a beach somewhere.

“What do you think this is Daryl? Is this some kind of game to you?” She asked angrily. Just a few hours ago he was being a huge dick to her and now here he was, acting like none of that happened and everything was okay. 

“What aren’t you tellin us” he said looking at her seriously. 

“What?” she asked incredulously. It was the middle of the night and she’d just had one of the worst dreams she had in an while, and he wants to start asking her things like that? Not to mention the fact that she was still mad at him.

“I want answers” he said simply.

“Too bad for you” She huffed. “I ain’t telling you shit.” She said angrily.

“Well, looks like I’m not leavin” he said making a show of getting more comfortable in his spot.

“Your really not gonna give up on this?” she asked exasperated.

“Nope.” 

“Oh God, fine!” She huffed. “But not tonight, I’m tired.” 

“Tomorrow then.” He said sternly. 

“Yes, jeez!” she sighed.

He stood up carefully but hesitated, turning back to her. “Don’t think your gettin out of it this time Dinky.” He said staring at her.

“Alright already!” she stood quickly and all but shoved him out of her tent. 

He turned back to her, his eyes trailing over her body. “Nice pajamas” he said before turning and heading back to his tent. 

Furrowing her eyebrows she looked down and realized she was still only wearing the tank top and her underwear. Blushing furiously, she quickly zipped her tent shut and laid back down in her sleeping bag.

“Damn you Daryl Dixon” she Grumbled to herself.


	13. Chapter 13

When Elliette woke up the next morning she made no move to get up. Why had she agreed to talk to Daryl today? That was the last thing she wanted to do. Why did she give in to him so quickly last night? She could have easily ignored him and went back to sleep. She was still mad at him for being an asshole to her, what the hell makes him think she’d even want to talk to him? Who the hell did he think he was, acting like everything was ok between them after he was such a jerk? And why the hell did her past matter to him so badly? Everyone else seemed to have moved past that by now, so why wouldn’t he?

She stayed curled up in her sleeping bag trying to think of a way out of it when her stomach let out a loud growl. Looked like she couldn’t hide in here much longer. Sighing, she got up and ran her fingers through her hair to get the knots out. It was getting too long, almost to her waist. She would have to cut it soon. She pulled on some clean clothes, slipped her boots on, not bothering to tie them, and slipped her hatchet into her belt. 

Unzipping the door to her tent she stepped out and pulled it closed behind her. She made her way over to the middle of the camp where everyone was eating breakfast. She made herself a plate of food and sat with the others, eating as slowly as possible trying to postpone seeing Daryl for as long as she could. When she finished eating she washed her dishes and put them away. 

Elliette was desperately looking for anything to kill time so she wouldn’t have to face Daryl when she remembered she needed to wash some clothes. Happy that she had found something that would take a while, she went to her tent to gather up her dirty clothes. By the time Elliette had finished washing and hanging all of her laundry it was early afternoon. She noticed that most of the camp was heading over toward the vehicles and she overhead them talking about gun practice. When they left, the camp was almost completely empty.

Elliette decided that now would probably be the best time to get her talk with Daryl over with. With the camp so empty there was less chance of someone overhearing them, so she would take advantage of the situation, no matter how much she really didn’t want to. She slowly made her way over to Daryl’s tent, her stomach twisting nervously. She didn’t want to tell him anything more. The explanation back at the CDC should have been enough for him. 

Elliette knocked on the tent pole “Daryl?”

“Bout time” she heard his voice from inside the tent. She stepped inside shutting the door behind her. He was laying on a cot with a book in his lap “What took ya so long?” he asked.

“I had things to do” she said dismissively, watching him as he slowly sat up tossing the book to the side. She stood there watching him, not really knowing what to do. He stared at her for a minute before scooting to one side of the cot motioning for her to sit on the other side. She sat down looking at him, not wanting to be the first one to talk.

“Well, you gonna talk or what?” he asked impatiently.

“I don’t really know what you want me to say” she said annoyed.

“Well, maybe talk about the secrets you been keepin?” He suggested sarcastically.

“Why do you want to know so badly?” she asked frustrated. “Yesterday you didn’t even want me in the same room as you! Now all of a sudden you’re acting like that never happened and your demanding I tell you about my life!” She stood angrily and stared him down. “Everyone else is letting it go! Why can’t you?”

“Because you haven’t!” he said standing up too. She noticed how much taller than her he was, she only came up to his chin.

“Huh?” Elliette raised her eyebrows confused.

“You keep sayin you put it behind ya, but obviously you ain’t!” he said.

“What are you talking about? Of course I have! I let it go a long time ago!” she replied just as loudly.

“Bullshit.” He said. “Ya wouldn’t be waking up all hours of the night with nightmares if ya had!” 

“So I have bad dreams! What does that matter?!” 

“Obviously it still bothers ya!” he said tossing his hands up irritated.

“So what?!” she yelled getting in his face and poking him in his chest. “What does it matter to you? Just yesterday you were being a huge dick to me for no reason at all!” 

“Quit pokin me!” he said grabbing her wrist.

“No!” she said yanking her wrist from his hand. “I don’t get it Daryl! You told me to go away because I’m such a problem for you! So I did! Then you come bothering me about shit that’s none of your fucking business, saying you want answers! What the hell?” 

“Was just a bad day.” He mumbled grumpily.

“Just a bad day? Oh, that makes me feel so much better!” She said sarcastically. “I don’t get it Daryl! What’s this all about?! Why are you so concerned with my nightmares and my past all of a sudden?!” she yelled getting frustrated with him.

“Why’re ya makin this such a fight?!” He yelled back. 

“Because this time I want some fucking answers!” she yelled. “Its my turn to demand an explanation!”

“I was worried about ya!” he yelled “Seein ya screamin and cryin like that! How shook up ya were when ya woke up! That ain’t right!” he yelled at her exasperatedly.

“Why do you even care so much!?!” she yelled back at him. 

Before she realized what was happening he had closed the distance between them and his firm lips were crushing hers in a hungry kiss. His right hand tangled in her long hair and his left arm snaked around her waist pulling her tightly against him. Their lips moved in synch as she gave into the kiss, melting in his arms. Her hands moved to his chest, grabbing his shirt and pulling him closer to deepen the kiss. Her blood was like fire in her veins, her heart was beating so loudly she was afraid he could hear it. When they broke apart for air, Elliette’s cheeks were flushed and her heart was beating out of her chest. Their faces were still only inches apart as Daryl held her close.

“Hey is everything ok? We heard yelli-” Glenn poked his head through the door of the tent and froze. 

Elliette and Daryl separated quickly, her face bright as a tomato. “Glenn! Um…” she stumbled over her words.

“Sorry! Didn’t mean to interrupt!” he said with a mischievous smile before leaving them alone again. She stared at the door of the tent in disbelief for a moment. 

When Elliette turned to look at Daryl he was watching her. She stood there staring at him trying to wrap her head around what just happened. She had yelled at Daryl and he yelled back, then he kissed her. Daryl Dixon just kissed her! And Glenn of all people had to walk in! She would probably never hear the end of that one. 

So what did this mean for her? She was so adamant about not acting on her feelings for Daryl yet she hadn’t hesitated to kiss him back. She had also convinced herself that Daryl didn’t like her as more than just a friend, but clearly that wasn’t true. And after telling herself she didn’t want to let him in, he still managed to slip through her barriers more and more every day. 

And maybe he was right. Maybe she hadn’t let go of the past like she thought she had. That was her sole purpose for putting up her walls to begin with, right? Because of what happened to her back then. That’s why she was so determined not to let Daryl too close either, so he couldn’t hurt her. Yea he was an ass to her yesterday, it happened, but maybe she should just let it go? Everyone has bad days, and he did almost die yesterday. That was the way they lived now. Here one day, gone the next. No one knew if they would live to see tomorrow anymore. Daryl had a brush with death yesterday. What if he had died? They never would have had this conversation that lead to him kissing her. She would have always had unresolved feelings for him.

Maybe it really was time to stop being so afraid. Maybe it was time to break down her walls and just go with the flow. She could die at any time and she didn’t want to have any regrets when she did. She wanted to live what life she had left to the fullest. No more running away out of fear of getting hurt.

Daryl suddenly moving back to the cot caught her attention. He moved carefully, wincing slightly as he sat down. 

“Is your side hurting?” She asked quietly.

“Just sore. It’s fine” he replied.

“Ok” she said. She moved back to the cot also and sat back down.

She had just opened her mouth to talk when Daryl sighed loudly and ran a hand through his hair. “What’re ya doin to me Dinky?” he mumbled. She furrowed her brows in confusion. 

A knock on the pole of the tent caught both of their attention. “Elliette?” Maggie’s voice came from outside.

“Maggie?” Elliette stood quickly and moved to open the door of the tent.

“Sorry to bother you, Glenn said you were over here.” She explained “We’re making another run into town and I thought I’d ask if you need anything.” Maggie asked.

“Oh, yea!” Elliette said quickly. Maggie handed her a piece of paper and Elliette quickly added her things to the list.

“Thank you, Maggie!” Elliette said handing the list back to her. “Do you need anything?” Elliette quickly looked over to Daryl who was watching them silently.

“Nah” he shook his head.

“Ok, well we should be back in a little bit” Maggie said before walking away. 

Elliette took a step back from the door of the tent when she tripped over the laces of her untied boots. She yelped as she fell backwards landing on her butt. She heard snickering coming from the side of the tent and looked toward Daryl.

“Real smooth Dinky” he said with a chuckle.

“Gee thanks” she laughed sarcastically, laying back and staring at the top of the tent. “This is the second time I’ve fallen on my ass this week.” She mumbled.

“Second?” 

“When I was lost in the woods, I killed a walker with that stupid, cursed pocket knife. When I tried to pull it out, the damn thing broke and I fell backwards.” She explained.

“Can’t blame the knife for everything” he shook his head.

“The hell I can’t!” she laughed lightly. “I’ll blame that stupid thing until the day I die.” She turned her head to look at Daryl, their eyes meeting. Elliette sat up slowly holding Daryl’s gaze. They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither one looking away.

“You were right Daryl” she sighed.

“Say what?” He asked in disbelief.

“You were right” she stated simply. She stood from her spot, careful not to trip on her untied boots again, and made her way back toward the cot. She stood in front of Daryl and looked down at him. He was watching her with a curious look on his face.

“All this time I thought I’d let it all go, but I guess I hadn’t.” she sighed looking down at her pitiful boots. “I was putting up walls and keeping people at a distance, trying to keep from getting hurt.” 

“So, whatca gonna do about it?” he asked her curiously.

She looked back at him, meeting his eyes. She couldn’t help the big smile that took over her face. 

“I’m done being afraid.” She said. “I’m gonna do what I want from now on. No regrets.” She said. Then in a spur of the moment act, she quickly bent down and planted a quick passionate kiss on Daryl’s lips, catching him by surprise. 

When they parted she quickly stood up and smiled. “Well, this was a good talk Dixon, but I’ve still got things to do today” she said.

“Fine. Go on, get” he waved her off playfully. 

She smiled and giggled to herself as she made her way out of the tent.


	14. Chapter 14

Once Elliette was out of Daryl’s tent she took a minute to think about what just happened. She had finally decided to stop being so guarded and just enjoy her life. She wanted to be friends with these people in her group, and she wanted to see where things might head with Daryl. She wasn’t expecting him to turn all sappy and start bringing her flowers, that just wasn’t who he was. She didn’t want that from him. She knew he would still be just as grumpy, stubborn, and rude as ever, but that’s who Daryl was and she was ok with that.

Elliette had a big goofy smile plastered to her face as she made her way over to where she had hung her laundry. It was dry now so she got to work pulling it down and folding it. When she had finished she went to her tent and put it away in her duffle bag. 

She was stepping out of her tent when she heard yelling coming from across the camp. She quickly headed toward the commotion and noticed it was Maggie yelling at Lori. It looked like her and Glenn had just gotten back from their trip into town. As Elliette got closer she overheard Maggie listing off random items while throwing them on the ground at Lori’s feet while Glenn was trying to calm her down. Then she took out a couple of small boxes and waved them in her face. 

“And we got your abortion pills!” Maggie yelled angrily.

“Woah! What?!” Elliette said shocked.

Glenn, Maggie, and Lori all suddenly turned their heads to look at Elliette. They looked surprised, obviously not noticing her until now.

“Elliette!” Glenn and Lori said at the same time.

“Your pregnant?” Elliette asked in disbelief.

“Please don’t tell anyone!” Lori pleaded.

Maggie gave Lori an angry look and huffed before walking away, Glenn following quickly behind.

“When were you going to tell us?” Elliette asked still not believing the news. It obviously was an accident, who plans to get pregnant during the apocalypse, but it was still a really stupid accident. 

“I-I” Lori hesitated.

“Those pills…you’re going to try to get rid of it?” Elliette asked.

“I haven’t decided yet.” Lori confessed. Elliette didn’t say anything, she didn’t know what to say. She had always thought abortion was wrong, but in this world, what life could a child have? How could a baby survive when most adults couldn’t?

“You can’t say anything to anyone! Rick doesn’t even know!” Lori said.

“I won’t say anything. I promise. But you need to tell him. No matter what you decide, he at least deserves to know.” Elliette said. Lori nodded slightly and Elliette gave her a reassuring smile before leaving. 

Elliette made her way through camp aimlessly noticing that most of the people had come back from the gun practice earlier. She noticed Carl was sitting down by the fire and she smiled and made her way over to him. 

“Hey Carl!” She said.

“Hey” he said with a little smile.

“I didn’t know you were up yet. I heard what happened to you. I’m glad your ok kid” she said ruffling his hair.

“Thanks” he said swatting her hand away and fixing his hair.

“So did you go to gun practice earlier?” she asked him curiously.

“Yea!” he said suddenly excited. “Dad said I’m a really good shot!” he said smiling giddily.

“Really? That’s great!” Elliette said. She was happy he was learning to protect himself, especially after what happened and with Sophia going missing. She felt her smile fade at the thought of Sophia. She had been out there for so long now, was there even a chance of finding her alive?

“You’re thinking about Sophia aren’t you?” Carl asked.

“Yea” she said quietly.

“We’re gonna find her. I know we are” he said confidently.

“Yea, we’ll find her” Elliette said with a small smile. “Well I’ll see you later man.” She said with a quick wave. He waved back at her as she turned around and headed up to the house. It was getting late by now and it would be supper time soon, but she still had one more thing she wanted to get done first.

She climbed the steps of the porch and stepped inside the house quietly. She looked around for someone when she spotted Herschel sitting down reading his Bible. She made her way over to him and cleared her throat to get his attention.

“Elliette. What can I do for you?” he asked.

“I was wondering if I could borrow your bathroom and a pair of scissors for a little bit?” she asked politely.

“I don’t have a problem with it I suppose. But what are you planning on doing?” he asked.

She picked up a piece of her hair and smiled “This is just getting a little out of control, that’s all” 

“There should be a pair of scissors in the drawer up there” he nodded.

“Thank you” she smiled and made her way up to the bathroom. 

She shut the door behind her and looked through a few drawers before she found the scissors. She pulled her shirt off so it wouldn’t be covered in loose hair and threw a towel down on the floor to catch her mess. She quickly looked in the mirror and judged about how much she wanted to take off. Her hair was almost to her waist so she decided to cut off quite a bit so it would be around the same length as Andrea’s hair. It wasn’t her first time cutting her own hair so it was easy work for her, only taking about 15 minutes. When she was done she double checked her handiwork and smiled. It didn’t look too bad for doing it herself. She quickly threw her shirt back on and cleaned up her mess. 

She made her way back out of the house and found Glenn sitting on the porch with a bag.

“Elliette! Here.” He handed her the bag quickly. “It’s the stuff you asked for from our run” he explained quickly.

“Oh thanks. I had forgotten” she laughed lightly.

“Did you cut your hair?” Glenn asked.

“Yep. Literally just did it” she said smiling. “It doesn’t look too bad does it?” she asked.

“No, it looks fine.” He said smiling.

“How’s Maggie?” she asked quietly.

“I’m not sure” he sighed. “She’s confusing” he said.

“It’ll be ok. She really likes you” she said smiling.

“That reminds me!” Glenn suddenly said with a smile “What was going on with you and Daryl earlier? I thought you guys were just friends?” 

“Well, I thought so too” Elliette said blushing.

“So what’s going on then?” Glenn asked expectantly.

“I don’t know.” She said simply. “I’m just taking this one day at a time. Going with the flow” she said. “There’s no need stressing myself out by trying to put labels on it.” She shrugged.

“I guess I get that” Glenn said.

“Ok. Well I’m going put this stuff away” she said shaking the bag in her hand. “Thanks again Glenn.” She smiled and walked away.

She walked over to her tent and stepped inside zipping the door behind her. Turning her attention to the bag, she quickly dumped it out and examined the items. They had brought her the feminine supplies she had asked for. She tucked those away in her duffle bag until the time came that she would need those. She looked back at what else was in the bag and smiled gratefully, a stick of deodorant and a pack of hair ties. She never thought she would be so happy for such little things. She quickly pulled a hair tie off of the pack and tied her hair back in a messy bun and threw the deodorant and remaining hair ties into her bag. 

Elliette looked around her tent in the dimming light and noticed Dale’s book still sitting off in the corner from the night before. She decided to return it before she went to join the rest of the group for dinner. When she stepped out of the tent with the book in hand she paused as the smell of cooking food hit her, making her stomach growl. She quickly headed over to the RV and put the book back on the table where she had found it. 

Closing the door behind her, she left the RV and headed over where everyone was sitting around a fire eating. Carol handed her a plate, smiling softly and Elliette thanked her. She noticed a few chairs on one side that were empty and took the one in the middle. She sat quietly eating her food and enjoying the friendly chatter when she noticed someone sit next to her from the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw Daryl sitting there, quietly eating his food. 

“How’s your side feeling?” She asked quietly.

“How’s yer leg?” He replied just as quietly.

“Touché” she chuckled.

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, Elliette listening to the conversation about things going on around camp. Soon things died down as everyone started heading to bed. Elliette stood to put her dishes with the others to be washed tomorrow and offered to take Daryl’s too so he wouldn’t have to get up. She quickly put their dishes with the others and made her way back to her chair, sitting down and watching the fire quietly. 

Elliette let her mind wander as she watched the fire burn down. She thought about everything that happened today and how much she had changed since she had first joined the group. Her thoughts trailed to Sophia. She was always such a sweet and happy girl. Elliette couldn’t help but feel guilty about the whole situation. She had been lost in the woods for only three days and she remember how bad that felt. She couldn’t imagine how Sophia must be feeling. She couldn’t help but wish Daryl had found Sophia in the woods instead of her. She had a better chance of making it out in one piece than Sophia did. She would have been ok for a few more days in the woods while they took care of Sophia.

Elliette was yanked out of her thoughts when Daryl suddenly reached over and pulled the hair tie out of her hair. She looked over at him raising her eyebrow in question.

“Like it better down” he said quietly looking at the fire.

“Ok. Can I at least have my hair tie back?” she said smiling slightly.

“Nah” he said putting it in his pocket quickly.

“Ok” she shrugged. “ I have like ten more” she said chuckling.

“You cut yer hair” he said looking at her.

“Yea. It was getting hard to manage.” She shrugged.

He nodded and grunted a reply looking back to the fire. 

“I hope we find Sophia soon” she said looking back at the fire.

“We’ll find her.” He said definitely.

“I hope so” she sighed.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while and Elliette felt herself starting to fall asleep.

“Its getting late” she sighed.

She watched as Daryl stood carefully, standing up too. They walked in silence toward the tents, stopping half way between hers and Daryl’s.

“No more nightmares” he told her sternly.

“Ok, ok. I’ll try” she laughed. 

She tiptoed and pressed her lips against his in a quick kiss. 

“Goodnight” she said quietly and turned around heading to her tent feeling his eyes on her the whole way.


	15. Chapter 15

Elliette woke up feeling refreshed. She couldn’t remember ever being so happy with her life, and it only took the end of the world to make it happen. She couldn’t help but laugh at that. 

Rolling out of her sleeping bag she pulled on her clothes and her boots tying them quickly. She took a new hair tie from her duffle bag and pulled her hair up in a bun, slipped her hatchet into her belt, and made her way outside. Everyone was quietly settling around the campfire with their breakfast. Elliette grabbed a plate and stood off to the side since all of the chairs were taken. Things were uncomfortably quiet, everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. Glenn suddenly stood up looking nervously toward Dale before clearing his throat.

“Um guys?” he said catching everyone’s attention. “The barn’s full of walkers” he said quickly.

Everyone was instantly on their feet and making their way to the barn. Elliette noticed Glenn look back at the house quickly at a very pissed off Maggie as they followed the group. Shane was looking into the barn through a crack in the wall, quickly jumping back and turning on Rick furiously. 

“You can’t say you’re ok with this!” Shane gestured to the barn angrily.

“You know I’m not!” Rick said “But we’re guests here! This isn’t our land.” 

“This is our lives, man!” Shane exclaimed.

“We can't just sweep this under the rug” Andrea said.

“You're right” Shane said looking at Andrea then back to Rick. “Not anymore. We gotta go in there. We gotta make things right, or we just gotta go. We've been talkin' about Fort Benning for a long time.”

“We can’t just go” Rick interrupted.

“Why, Rick? Why?” Shane asked in exasperation.

“Because my daughter's still out there” Carol said gesturing towards the woods.

“I think it's time for us to consider the other possibilities” Shane said to Carol rudely.

“Would you just stop!” Elliette snapped. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“We're close to findin' this girl” Daryl jumped in defensively “I just found her damn doll a couple days ago!” 

“You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll” Shane exclaimed.

“Ya don't know what the hell yer talkin' bout!” Daryl snapped.

“I'm just saying what needs to be said!” Shane yelled moving closer to Daryl.

“Your acting like an ass, that’s what you’re doing!” Elliette said angrily. 

Shane turned quickly to look at her with a scowl. “You stay out of this!” He said pointing his finger at her “You’re lucky you’re even still here!” 

“Excuse me?” she said putting her hands on her hips angrily.

Shane ignored her and turned his attention back to Daryl. “Let me tell you something, man. If she were alive out there and saw you coming, all methed out with your buck knife and your geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!”

Shane and Daryl were instantly yelling and swinging at each other as everyone rushed over to pull them apart. As soon as there was enough space between the two men Elliette took advantage of her small stature and slipped between them, pushing Shane back some so that they could pull him away from Daryl. She then turned to Daryl and moved him back a few steps so he and Shane couldn’t reach each other. She turned around still standing in front of Daryl, ignoring his angry growl coming from behind her.

Shane was yelling at Rick again but Elliette had stopped paying attention to him. He was acting erratic and it looked like he was itching for a fight. She was still standing directly in front of Daryl, she could feel the anger coming off of him in waves and she wasn’t sure if it was directed at her or Shane.

Rick had managed to convince everyone to let him talk to Herschel before taking any action, and everyone was starting to disperse. Elliette turned back to Daryl, noticing the scowl he was shooting at Shane. He turned his attention to her still looking less pissed but still pretty upset. He looked her over for a minute, reached over and gently pulled the hair tie from her hair, stuffed it in his pocket, then turned around and walked away. Elliette sighed and combed her hair out of her face with her fingers as she watched him walk away. Looked like she would have to keep her hair down right now, for the sake of her hair ties.

“What was that about?” Lori’s voice made Elliette jump.

“Gosh you scared me!” Elliette said turning to look at Lori.

“Sorry” Lori chuckled lightly. She turned to look back at Shane who was inspecting around the barn obsessively. “Let’s go for a walk” she said quietly.

“Ok” Elliette agreed. Lori began walking toward the fields and Elliette fell into step beside her. They walked at a leisurely pace for a few minutes before Lori spoke again. 

“So. What was that about?” Lori asked again gesturing to Elliette’s hair.

“Nothing really.” Elliette said nonchalantly. Lori raised her eyebrow skeptically at her. “He just has a thing against hair ties, I think” Elliette shrugged.

“Seriously Elliette. I’m not stupid.” Lori sighed.

“He said he likes my hair better down” she said quietly “Every time I pull it up he steals my hair tie and won’t give it back”

“I knew there was something going on with y’all!” Lori said smiling.

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Elliette mumbled.

“Who else has been saying that?” Lori asked.

“Never mind” Elliette said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” She said chuckling. “But I gotta say, that back there was adorable” she said with a big smile.

“Uugh, please stop” Elliette whined.

“Ok, ok” Lori laughed.

“How are you feeling?” Elliette asked looking at her feet as she walked.

“Fine” Lori said instantly sobering. 

“Have you decided yet?” she asked looking over at Lori.

“Yea. I talked to Rick too.” She said quietly. “I’m gonna give it a chance” she said touching her stomach lightly.

“It’ll be ok.” Elliette said patting Loris arm. “This group is like a family, they’ll do anything to make sure you and the baby are healthy.”

“You’re in this family too ya know” Lori said “You’re still talking like you’re an outsider”

“Yea I guess you’re right” Elliette chuckled.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way past the stables. They both stopped when they heard yelling coming from inside followed by a loud bang. They started walking toward the stables when they saw Daryl storming out angrily followed slowly by a distraught looking Carol. Elliette and Lori shared a confused look before making their way over to Carol.

“Carol?” Elliette asked quietly.

“Is everything ok?” Lori asked.

Carol just shook her head with tears in her eyes and looked down. Elliette furrowed her eyebrows looking at Carol and pulled her into a hug. She stiffened in her arms before relaxing and crying softly.

“Lets get you back to the RV” Lori said rubbing Carols back lightly. Elliette released her and Carol nodded slightly, the three of them slowly made their way back to camp. Once they were in the RV they all sat down around the table. 

“What happened?” Lori asked gently.

“I just told him the truth” she said releasing a shaky breath. “I know there’s a good chance we’re not gonna find her. Not after this long” 

“You can’t give up hope.” Elliette said in disbelief. “You can’t let what Shane said get to you. He’s being ridiculous!” 

“Elliette’s right, Shane is dealing with other things right now. Its effecting his better judgement” Lori said quietly.

“I know” Carol sighed.

“I’ll go talk to Daryl” Elliette said standing up.

“No, you don’t need to” Carol said suddenly.

“No, he was out of line” Elliette said smiling. She stepped out of the RV, quietly closing the door behind herself before heading across camp to Daryl’s tent.

“Daryl” Elliette said knocking on the tent pole lightly.

“Yea” he said grumpily.

She slipped inside the tent closing the door behind her. He was laying on his cot staring up at the top of the tent, not even bothering to look over at her as she came in. She walked across the tent and sat down next to his cot, leaning her back against it and looking at the opposite side of the tent. 

“You made Carol cry” Elliette said quietly.

“She don’t think Sophia’s out there no more” he growled out.

“So that gives you the right to yell at her?” Elliette asked.

He didn’t answer, just grunted and continued staring up at the top of the tent. Elliette turned around and looked at him before sighing and looking down at her hands that were folded in her lap.

“You should take it easy on her, Daryl. She’s going through a lot right now” she played with her fingers as she spoke “Sophia has been out there for nearly a week now. I know how hard you’ve been working to find her, everyone knows, but you gotta think about it from her perspective too. She’s hurting, she’s lost her little girl. She’s trying to hold out hope but with each passing day that we still don’t find her, she’s probably just trying to prepare herself for the worst.” Elliette looked up meeting his piercing blue eyes that were staring at her. 

He sat up slowly holding his injured side as he put his feet on the ground, sitting on the edge of the cot. Elliette turned around in her spot to look up at him.

“I tried goin out ta look for her” he said running his hand through his hair.

“I know, but you’re hurt. Daryl you were impaled by an arrow, then shot! Do you even realize how close of a call that was?” She said looking at him seriously.

“I know” he said grumpily.

“You should be resting, not running off into the woods by yourself. Carol’s just worried about you. We all are.” She said turning more to look up at him.

“Someone’s gotta go, don’t see no one else gettin off their ass ta go look for the girl” he said angrily. 

“I’ll go” Elliette said seriously.

“The hell are you thinkin? ” he said staring at her in disbelief.

“Its like you said, someone’s gotta go out there.” She replied. “I’ll get Rick to organize another search today, I’ll go out with them.” She said moving to sit on the cot next to him so she wouldn’t have to look up anymore.

“Thought ya said ya'd rather die than go back into the woods” he said turning to look at her.

“I did, but this is important” Elliette shrugged. “We need to find Sophia.” 

“What if ya get lost again?” he asked.

“I’ll take someone with me. That way I’ll have less chance of getting lost” she chuckled.

“It still don’t sound like a good idea” he grumbled to himself.

“Well too bad, its happening” she said smiling. “Now you have no excuse not to stay here and rest” she said standing up from the cot. 

Daryl stood up after her, holding his side and wincing as he moved. “You sure about this?” he asked.

“Yes” she stated simply while holding his piercing blue gaze.

“Just be careful, Dinky.” He sighed.

“Jeez, its almost like you’re worried about me or something” Elliette said sarcastically with a laugh.

“Shut up” Daryl said roughly before wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her into him for a kiss. Elliette sighed into the kiss, relaxing in Daryl’s arms as he pulled her closer.

When they parted Daryl still held her against himself, his arms wound snugly around her waist. Elliette looked up at him, taking in all of his features. His piercing blue eyes, his skin that was tanned from being in the sun every day, his hair that was starting to get longer now, and his facial hair that was getting scruffy too.

“You should apologize to Carol” she said quietly.

Daryl huffed and nodding his head. Elliette smiled and placed a quick kiss on his lips before Daryl released his hold on her. 

“I’ll go talk to Rick” she said making her way outside.


	16. Chapter 16

Elliette made her way across the camp looking for Rick. When she didn’t find him she decided to check around the house, thinking he might still be talking to Herschel. As she got closer to the house she noticed Rick, Andrea and T-dog standing near a truck, huddled around a map.

“Hey” she said catching their attention.

“Hey Elliette” Andrea said.

“Are y’all planning another search?” she asked pointing to the map.

“Yea, we were” Rick said nodding.

“I’m going too. I wanna help” she said.

“You sure?” Rick asked skeptically. 

“Yea. We need to find Sophia” she said seriously.

Rick nodded knowingly and began to explain the plans to Elliette, pointing to places on the map that they had already searched and where they were planning to search next. 

They were just about to leave when Herschel had come to them, asking Rick for help with something. Seeing an opportunity to try and smooth things over, Rick told the three that they would put the search for Sophia on hold until he got back. Andrea and T-dog needed to go take care of some other things around the camp so Elliette decided to sit on the porch and wait for Rick to finish helping Herschel. She made her way up the steps and sat in one of the rocking chairs along the porch. Glenn and Maggie had come out of the house not long after and decided to join Elliette.

“Hey guys” Elliette sighed.

“Hey, what’re you doing out here all alone?” Maggie asked.

“Just waiting for Rick. He’s helping your dad with something right now. We’re going back out to look for Sophia when he gets back.” Elliette replied.

“Oh, ok.” Maggie said with a smile. Glenn moved to sit in a chair near Elliette and Maggie sat next to him. They fell into a comfortable silence, enjoying the beautiful day. The weather was nice and warm, the sky was a beautiful blue and a few fluffy white clouds were floating overhead. Elliette watched the clouds float by, silently picking out different shapes she saw in them.

It had been a while, Elliette was starting to wonder what Rick and Herschel could possibly be doing that would take so long. She saw movement from the corner of her eye and looked over to T-dog and Andrea who were coming over.

“Where is everyone?” Andrea asked.

“Rick still ain’t back?” T-dog asked.

“No, I was just wondering what could be taking so long.” Elliette replied.

“There y’all are” Daryl’s gruff voice came from the side of the house as he and Carol came walking up. “What the hell?” 

“I thought you were going back out?” Carol asked no one in particular.

“Damn it. Isn’t anyone takin this seriously? We got us a damn trail!” Daryl said angrily. Elliette couldn’t help but feel guilty, she had promised Daryl that she would help search for Sophia today, but she just ended up lounging on the porch for most of the day.

Suddenly Shane walked up to the porch with a determined look on his face. He was holding a shot gun in one hand and had the large bag of guns hanging on his other shoulder.

“What’s all this?” Daryl asked 

“You with me man?” Shane asked holding the shot gun out to Daryl. He looked him over quickly before grabbing the shot gun. 

“Thought we couldn’t carry” T-dog asked as Shane handed him a gun as well.

“Well we can. And we have to” Shane said angrily. “Look, it's one thing standing around picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. Now we know it ain't.” he said holding a gun out towards Elliette. She looked at the gun in his hand hesitantly before taking hold of it. 

“What about you man?” Shane asked holding a gun out to Glenn “You gonna protect yours?” Glenn seemed unsure but took the gun from Shane’s hand anyway.

“Can you shoot?” he asked Maggie.

“Can you stop?” Maggie said angrily “If you do this, my dad will make you leave tonight!” 

“We can’t leave until we find Sophia!” Carol said getting upset. The door to the house suddenly opened and Lori stepped outside looking at Shane angrily, Carl trailing not far behind her.

“We ain't going anywhere, ok” Shane said to Carol “Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand, ok? He’s gonna have to.” 

“Oh shit” T-dog's voice caught everyone’s attention. They all quickly looked where he was looking.

Rick, Herschel, and Jimmy were heading to the barn with two walkers. Rick and Herschel were holding the walkers secure with catch poles that were usually used by animal control to catch dogs, while Jimmy was walking in front luring them in the right direction.

Shane instantly started toward them angrily, the rest of the group following him. Elliette felt her palms begin to sweat with nervousness. She wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but Shane was already on a war path and this wasn’t helping any. Shit was about to hit the fan.

“What the hell is this!?” Shane yelled as he approached Rick and Herschel.

Rick was desperately trying to calm Shane down while still keeping a steady hold on the pole as the walker tried lunging for Shane. He was only getting more agitated as Rick and Herschel tried reasoning with him.

“These things ain’t sick!” Shane yelled “They’re not people! They’re dead!” he yelled gesturing to the walkers angrily.

“Shane! Shut up!” Rick yelled at Shane while still struggling under the strain of the walker on his pole.

“Hey, Herschel, let me ask you something. A living breathing person, could they walk away from this?” Shane asked pulling out a hand gun and aiming for the walker he was holding, shooting it three times in the chest. 

“That’s three rounds in the chest! Could someone who’s alive take that?” Shane yelled at Herschel. “Why’s it still coming?!” he yelled before shooting the walker two more times. “That’s its heart! Its lungs! Why’s it still coming?” he yelled before shooting the walker a few more times. 

“Shane! That’s enough!” Rick yelled.

“You’re right man” Shane said walking up to the walker Herschel was holding “That is enough” he said before shooting it in the head.

Elliette watched as the walker fell to the ground with a sickening thud. She knew what Shane was saying was true, but this was unnecessary. He was completely out of control, and Elliette knew he wasn’t finished yet. He was on a mission to prove a point, and he wouldn’t stop until every walker on the farm was dead. 

“Enough!” Shane yelled looking around the group. “Risking our lives for a little girl that’s gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us!” he turned his attention back to Rick “Enough, Rick! It ain’t like it was before!” he spat at Rick angrily.

“Now if y’all wanna live, if you wanna survive, you gotta fight for it!” Shane said looking back to the group. “I’m talking about fight, right here, right now!” he said with a look of determination.

Shane quickly started walking toward the barn. Rick begged Herschel to take hold of his walker, but Herschel was in a state of shock, kneeling next to the fallen walker that Shane had shot. When Shane began breaking the locks off of the barn everyone instantly jumped into action, running toward him and yelling for him to stop. As they got closer Shane busted the last lock off of the door, stepping back quickly as the first walker came ambling out. 

There was no other option now, it was too late.

Shane took aim shooting walkers as they started coming through the doors of the barn. Elliette stood back holding her gun tightly, watching as the other members of the group who had guns began joining Shane as more walkers came pouring out of the barn. Shane finally turned and shot the walker Rick was holding in the head, glaring at Rick challengingly as it fell to the ground.

Just as quickly as it started, everything went silent as the gunfire ceased. Elliette felt sick as she looked over the mass of decaying bodies piled in front of the barn. Just as everyone was lowering their guard a muffled moan came from inside the barn. Elliette’s head snapped to the doors, time seemed frozen as a tiny body came stumbling through the doors. Elliette felt her heart drop to her stomach, her breathing speeding up as she looked at the small decaying face of the walker moving slowly across the piles of dead bodies. She felt like she was under water, she couldn’t hear anything over the sound of her own heart pounding out of her chest. Her body was frozen as she watched Rick step forward slowly, raising his gun to Sophia’s head and pulling the trigger. She felt like she was suffocating, her chest constricting as she watched Sophia’s tiny body fall lifelessly to the ground. She couldn’t focus on anything else but the blank expression on the little girl’s face, Sophia’s cloudy eyes staring straight through her.

The overwhelming urge to run came crashing down on Elliette. She didn’t know where, she just knew she needed to get as far away from those cold, dead eyes as possible. The gun fell from her hands, clattering as it hit the ground as she backed away from the group slowly. As soon as she was far enough away she quickly turned and ran, vaguely hearing someone calling her name but ignoring it. 

She sprinted as fast as she could, not caring where she was going. She passed the camp and continued running through the fields. When she finally stopped, her breaths were erratic and her legs were burning and shaky from the strain. She walked a little further until she came to the fence that marked the edge of Herschel’s property. A sob escaped her lips as she collapsed against a fence post and buried her face in her hands. She pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly as she cried. 

Her heart felt like it was twisted in knots as she buried her face into her knees and sobbed. It should have been her, not Sophia. Sophia should have been the one Daryl found in the woods, not her. Sophia should have been safe at the camp, instead of wandering out in the woods scared and alone. If only she had reacted faster, if she had tried harder, Sophia would be wrapped safely in her mother’s arms right now, not lying cold and lifeless on the ground. Now Carol would never have the chance to hold her little girl again, never watch her grow up. Sophia’s precious life was snatched out from under her by this cold new world.

After a while Elliette’s sobs slowly faded into soft sniffles as a few stray tears slid down her cheeks. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves. She stretched out her legs in front of her, leaning back against the pole and stared at her boots letting her mind wander. 

She thought back to when she first met up with the group. It was Lori, Shane, and Carl she met first. They were parked next to her on the highway. Ed, Carol, and Sophia were right in front of them. She remembered how Carl and Sophia sat in the back of Carol’s car playing checkers, blissfully unaware of the hell unfolding around them. She remembered all the times she sat by the campfire at the quarry watching Sophia and Carl playing cards. She smiled to herself thinking about how Sophia and Carl had bumped into her just to get her to teach them how to fight, and how they spent the whole time just asking her random questions like kids do. The smile slipped from her face as the image of Sophia’s decaying face slipped back to the front of her mind. 

Elliette took a shaky breath trying to hold back tears. She was surprised she was having such a hard time getting her emotions under control. She had seen and done things so much worse than this. She had killed countless men without even blinking an eye. She was “Ellia”, the one the Boss would send when he wanted to send a message. She was the one he would send to do the most gruesome jobs that no one else could handle. But this, this was so much different. This was Sophia. This was the sweet little girl that was like a ray of sunshine in this dark ugly world. This was the girl that endured an abusive father and the end of the world and still kept a smile on her face.

Elliette sighed heavily, looking down at her shaky hands. She took a few more calming breaths, wiping the tears from her face and looking around. She had been out there longer than she had thought, the sun had already gone down and it was pretty dark out. Deciding it probably wasn’t smart to be so far away from camp in the dark, she got to her feet and slowly started heading back. 

As she came back through the camp she noticed Shane’s car pulling up the driveway, everyone rushing over to it. As she got closer she saw Lori and Shane climbing out of the car, every one crowding around Lori who had blood on her forehead. She stopped a few feet away from the scene, watching quietly as Shane blabbed the news about Lori’s pregnancy, much to the surprise of the group. Dale quickly ushered Lori into the house to be checked over by Herschel.

“Where the hell have you been?” A familiar gruff voice sounded from behind her. She turned around to face him as he walked up to her.

“I-I…” she stuttered feeling her throat tighten. 

“The hell was that back there?” he asked stopping right in front of her. Elliette looked down, few tears slipping from her eyes. 

“Dammit Dinky, don’t cry” he huffed quietly, pulling her into a hug. She buried her face in his chest, sniffling lightly as she tried to get a hold on her emotions. She felt the warmth radiating off of him begin to calm her as she took a shaky breath. He smelled of smoke, like he had recently made a fire, and a little like pine trees, probably from being in the woods. She relaxed in his arms, feeling her anxiety melting away. 

“I’m sorry” she said quietly pulling back and wiping the tears from her cheeks. He nodded slightly and brushed her hair away from her face gently.

“Get some sleep Dinky” he said glancing over her shoulder quickly before turning and walking off somewhere. She watched his back in utter confusion as he walked away. 

Hearing someone clear their throat behind her, she whirled around quickly seeing all the shocked and surprised expressions. She felt her face burn in a blush as she realized that her and Daryl’s private moment was on full display for everyone. He must have realized that too, which explains why he took off so quickly, leaving her there to take brunt of the groups reaction. Without a word she quickly turned and headed for her tent, not ready to handle whatever questions the group might have. She paused noticing Daryl’s tent was gone from its usual spot, she quickly glanced around and saw the distant glow of a fire a good distance away.

“So he moved his stuff away, then left me to be embarrassed all alone, huh” she huffed quietly to herself. Elliette shook her head and quickly headed to her tent, zipping the door shut behind her. 

Once she was in her sleeping bag she sighed, the stress of the days events weighing heavily on her mind as she drifted into a dreamless sleep.


	17. Chapter 17

Elliette woke up the next morning feeling a little better emotionally but physically she felt run down. She laid in her sleeping bag for a while, making no effort to get up. She let her mind wander, recalling the events from the day before. Suddenly she didn't want to be alone anymore. She slowly got up, running her fingers through her messy hair.

As she stood up she realized how sore her muscles were. It had been a long time since she had done any running and she hadn't realized how out of shape she was. Maybe she would have to start going for a run in the mornings to get herself back in shape. At this rate, if she were ever to be chased by walkers she would be dead meat.

She shuffled over to her duffle bad and pulled out some clean clothes. She slipped on the shirt and stepped into her pants. As she was pulling her pants up she noticed the stitches in her leg. The cut was healing well and she thought it might be time for the stitches to come out. She needed to visit Herschel some time today and have him check on it. She quickly finished dressing, pulled on her boots and slid her hatchet into its usual spot in her belt.

As Elliette stepped out of her tent she noticed Shane and Daryl were packing guns and supplies into Shane's car. She made her way over to them noticing how quiet things around camp were this morning.

"Hey, what're y'all doing?" she asked. Shane ignored her and made his way over to Lori who had stepped out of the house and was standing on the porch.

"Goin after Rick" Daryl said checking over the gun in his hands.

"Where did he go?" she asked confused. Obviously she missed some things yesterday.

"Herschel took off alone yesterday. Rick an Glenn went after em. Been gone all night" he said loading up a few more supplies.

"Oh" she said. "So what about Shane and Lori last night?"

"Yer buddy over there tried ta go out on her own. Ended up wrecking the car she stole" he said shaking his head in annoyance.

"She tried to go out alone? What the hell was she thinking?" she asked in shock.

"She asked me ta go, told her I was done lookin for people" he said closing the trunk and turning to her.

"Oh" she said looking over at Lori who was talking to Shane.

"That all ya got ta say?" he asked looking like he was expecting more.

"What do you want me to say? I agree with you. You spent days out there looking for Sophia, usually alone. These people are grown, if they want to find someone they can go look for them too. They need to learn to do for themselves instead of always expecting you to do everything for them" I said looking at him.

"Damn, Dinky" he said shaking his head in amusement. "Maybe ya should explain it to them. They were all pissed, acting like I packed her bags for her."

"They'll get over it" she shrugged. She moved closer to him and sliding her arms around his waist carefully and resting her head on his chest. She giggled under her breath as he stiffened in her arms.

"Dinky-"

"Shh!" she cut him off "Just hug me dammit" she said sternly burying her face in his shirt.

"Damn woman" he mumbled wrapping his arms around her. She stayed there for a moment soaking up her victory before pulling back and flashing him a smile.

"Thank you" she said tiptoeing and giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Whatever" he mumbled looking off towards the woods.

Suddenly a vehicle came speeding up the driveway catching everyone's attention. Elliette and Daryl walked over to the vehicle joining everyone else who was surrounding it. They watched as Rick, Herschel, and Glenn climbed out looking a little worse for wear, but over all ok. Lori quickly ran up to Rick, wrapping him in a tight hug. Maggie following suit, bypassed her father and threw her arms around Glenn.

"Who the hell is that?" T-dog said catching everyone's attention.

"That's Randall" Glenn said with a distant look on his face before walking away leaving a confused looking Maggie behind.

Rick and T-dog helped carry Randall inside to the guest bedroom. It seemed that was the room everyone would visit when they got hurt Elliette thought to herself, maybe they should name it the infirmary. Once they got him to the room Herschel and Patricia got to work on his mangled leg, everyone hanging around waiting except for Daryl, who slipped away while Elliette wasn't looking.

After Herschel finished working on Randall, the group moved into the dining room to discuss what they would do with the boy. Elliette sat between Carol and Lori, listening as Herschel explained that Randall would be on his feet in about a week and how Rick wanted to give him supplies and drop him off somewhere.

"So you're just gonna let him go?" Shane asked incredulously. "He knows where we are"

"He was blindfolded the whole time, he's not a threat" Rick said looking at Shane.

"You killed three of their men. Took one of them hostage" Shane said stepping forward angrily "You think they ain't gonna come lookin for him?"

"They left him for dead!" Rick said annoyed "No ones looking for him."

"He's out cold right now, he will be for hours" Herschel said.

"Ya know what?" Shane said throwing his hands up "I'm gonna go get him a cake and some flowers" he said sarcastically. "We're back in fantasy land!" he said making his way out of the dining room. As Elliette turned to continue watching Shane she noticed Daryl standing quietly in the corner of the room. She wasn't sure when he had come in but she was glad he was here, just in case things escalated with Shane.

"We haven't even dealt with what you did back at my barn yet " Herschel said sternly. Shane turned around, facing Herschel and looking at him like he was crazy.

"Let me make this perfectly clear, once and for all. This is my farm." Herschel said getting in Shane's face. "I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Do us both a favor and keep your mouth shut."

Shane threw his hands up in exasperation and stormed out of the house angrily. Elliette shook her head at Shane, when would he figure out that no good would come from being a jerk and his extreme behavior was only getting negative responses.

"Look, were not doing anything about it today" Rick said catching everyone's attention again. "Lets just take a while to cool off" he said.

After that everyone dispersed, going their separate ways. Elliette saw Daryl walking out of the house pretty quickly, probably not in the mood to be around everyone right now. Elliette walked over to Herschel who was turning to leave the room.

"Hey, Herschel" Elliette said catching the older man's attention.

"Yes?" He asked.

"I don't mean to bug you if you're busy, I was just wondering if you could check on my stitches" she said hesitantly. She noticed how tired he looked and regretted bothering him.

"Of course, I'm sorry, I forgot all about them" he said. He lead her into another guest room and gave her a towel to cover herself with.

"Thank you" she said as he stepped out of the room. She pulled off her pants and covered herself with the towel calling out for Herschel to come back in. He quickly got to work inspecting her stitches.

"Looks like they're ready to come out" he said pulling out his medical scissors. He quickly and carefully removed the stitches and cleaned the area with alcohol. "Good as new" he said standing up "You'll still need to be careful with it until its completely healed" he said.

"Thank you, Herschel" Elliette said quietly.

"You're welcome" he nodded and left the room.

Elliette pulled her pants back on, folded the towel and laid it on the bed. She walked out of the house, shutting the door quietly behind her. She sighed as she stood on the porch, looking across the yard toward the barn. Three crosses underneath a nearby tree caught her attention, she stepped down from the porch and made her way across the yard.

As she came closer to the tree she could clearly see the freshly dug dirt on the three graves. She couldn't help but notice the one on the right was smaller than the other two. She felt tears well in her eyes as she kneeled down at the foot of the little grave.

"Sophia" she said quietly. "I'm so sorry" she said sniffling as tears slid down her cheeks. "I'm sorry I didn't find you. I'm sorry Daryl found me in those woods and not you. I'm so sorry" she said. Elliette sniffled again and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Elliette looked around the area and spotted some wild flowers growing in the field near the woods.

She stood up, dusting off her pants and made her way across the field. When she came up to the flowers she gathered three handfuls of different colored flowers and started back towards the graves. When she got back, she gently placed a bundle of flowers on the two larger graves. She moved over to Sophia's grave, kneeling and saying a quick prayer as she set the flowers down on the grave. She stayed there for a few more minutes before the silence became too much for her and she felt the strong need to not be alone anymore.

She quickly stood up and dusted off her jeans again. She turned around and walked back to the camp. When she got back she looked around and noticed no one was there. She scanned around, looking for signs of anyone, her eyes landing on a lone tent in the distance.

Elliette slowly made her way across the field towards Daryl's isolated camp. As she got closer she saw a string hung between two trees that had dead squirrels hanging on it. As she walked around she noticed a string hanging on the line that had four walker ears strung on it. She shook her head amusedly, only Daryl would string walker ears as a trophy.

"Damn wild man" she muttered as she made her way around the tree seeing Daryl sitting by his little fire making new arrows for his crossbow.

"What you doin all the way out here Dinky? He asked not even looking up from his arrow.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked walking closer to his camp and stopping.

"Needed some space" he said setting the arrow aside and picking up a new stick to turn into an arrow.

"Space?" she asked as she moved to sit on the ground across from him.

"Yea. Too many nosy ass people over there" he huffed, scraping the bark off of the stick with his knife.

"Oh" she said carefully watching as he worked on the arrow.

She sat quietly, watching as he made a few more arrows. She was mesmerized by how he skillfully shaped them and how quick he was able to get them done.

"Never did answer me" he said after a while.

"What?" she asked looking up from his hands that were holding another stick and meeting his blue eyes.

"What're ya doin all the way out here?" he asked again looking back down and working on turning the stick into an arrow.

"I didn't want to be alone" she said quietly, looking down at her hands that were settled in her lap. "I don't know where everybody went to, but the camp is completely deserted" she said playing with her fingers.

"Hum" Daryl grunted in response.

They fell into a comfortable silence as Daryl continued carving the last arrow. Once he was done he gathered up the completed arrows and loaded a few into the holster on his crossbow. He then took the rest of the arrows, got up and tossed them inside his tent.

"You hungry?" He asked coming out of his tent.

"Yes" she said realizing she hadn't eaten anything yet.

He nodded and walked over to his line with squirrels hanging on it and took down two squirrels. He tossed one to Elliette and she caught it giving him a slightly confused and freaked out look.

"Come here" he said sitting back in his spot by the fire. She slowly stood up and made her way over to sit down next to him.

"Ya know how ta skin a squirrel?" he asked.

"Eh, no. Hunting animals isn't really my thing" she shrugged and looked down at the dead squirrel in her lap.

"Well, time to learn" he said handing her a knife.

"Um, ok" she said reluctantly grasping the knife.

"Just watch me and do what I do" he said.

"Ok" she said unsure.

She watched as he laid his squirrel down on the ground on its stomach in front on him, the head facing the fire and the tail closest to him. She followed his lead and laid her squirrel out on the ground. He then lifted the tail and cut from underneath through the base of the tailbone, stopping as soon as he cut through the bone so he wouldn't cut the back skin that was still holding the tail on. He stopped and looked over at Elliette expectantly. She took a deep breath and slowly copied his actions, cutting through the squirrel's tail bone and stopping before she hit the skin on the other side. He nodded approvingly and continued on his squirrel, cutting through the skin around either back leg, leaving a two inch strip of skin to pull off. Elliette quickly copied him cutting the skin on her squirrel and looking back at him.

Daryl got to his knees and flipped his squirrel over so it was laying on its back, she followed, getting on her knees and flipping her squirrel also. He stepped on the tail of his squirrel and grabbed the back legs, Elliette following suit. In one swift motion Daryl quickly pulled the squirrel up by its back legs, the skin now inside out only hanging on by the front paws and the head. He quickly cut off the head and the front legs and pulled the remaining skin from the back legs and cutting off the feet, then looked over at her.

Elliette took a deep breath and pulled the squirrel, the skin steadily separated from the muscles until it was hanging by the head and front legs. She quickly copied Daryl's actions and cut the head and front legs off, then removed the skin from the back legs and cut off the feet.

She held the skinned squirrel in her hands and smiled triumphantly at Daryl. "I did it!" she laughed.

"Good job, Dinky. Now ya gotta gut it" he said chuckling as her smile fell. "Here" he said holding his hand out. She handed him her squirrel, watching carefully as he quickly gutted both squirrels and skewered them on a couple of sticks, placing them over the fire to cook.

"Thank you" she said handing him back his knife.

"Need ta know how. Always good ta know, just in case" he said putting the knives away.

"I guess you've got a point" she said watching the squirrels slowly cooking over the fire.

Daryl settled next to her, making himself comfortable, watching the squirrels cook and the fire burn. Elliette scooted closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder, sighing happily.

They sat there in comfortable silence, watching the squirrels cook and enjoying each other's company. After a while, the squirrels were finished and Daryl pulled them away from the fire, handing one to Elliette. She accepted it, grabbing the stick and they both slowly started eating.

"Hey, Daryl" she said, catching his attention.

"Hm?" he mumbled.

"What're we gonna do when we have to leave here?" she asked looking into the fire.

"What'cha mean?" he asked.

"We can't stay here forever" she sighed. "Especially if Shane keeps acting like a psycho."

"Rick don't think so" he said.

"Rick thinks this farm is safe." Elliette said "No where is safe anymore. Not for long anyway."

Daryl grunted a response and continued eating his squirrel.

"We'll have to move on from this place eventually" she said looking over at him "And when we do, were gonna need a plan."

"Why're ya worryin yourself over all this?" he asked. "We ain't goin nowhere right now"

"What if we get separated again? It's hard enough making it as a group, could you imagine everybody out there alone?" she said. "I just don't wanna lose anyone else."

"Don't you worry bout none of that" he said. "For the time being, Rick says we're stayin here."

"Ok" she sighed.

"If it bothers ya so much, why don't you talk ta Rick bout it. Think something up, for just in case." He said.

"Yea, ok" she said smiling. "Thanks Daryl" she said giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

Elliette laughed under her breath as Daryl muttered something about women worrying so much, then turned her attention back to her squirrel and continued eating.


	18. Chapter 18

They had finished eating and Elliette was hanging out at Daryl’s camp. It was late afternoon and the sun was getting low in the sky, turning it a vibrant orange color. A breeze blew through and Elliette ran a hand through her hair, cringing when she realized how dirty it felt. She stood up, stretching her arms out.

“I’m gonna head up to the house for a bit” she said, Daryl nodding in response. 

Elliette slowly made her way across the field, heading for her tent. She slipped inside and pulled open her duffle bag. She could only find a pair of cotton sleep shorts and her favorite 5FDP shirt that she never wore because she was afraid to ruin it. She looked over to the pile of dirty clothes in the corner of the tent and sighed. She had no choice unless she wanted to wear dirty clothes. She pulled out clean underwear and rolled them up inside her clothes and stepped out of the tent, zipping the door shut behind her. 

Elliette made her way over to the house and stepped inside looking around for someone. She found Herschel in the dining room talking to Maggie.

“Sorry to interrupt” Elliette said when the both stopped talking and looked at her. “I just wanted to ask if I could use your shower” she asked quickly.

“Yea, sure” Maggie smiled and nodded. 

“Thank you” Elliette said and left the dining room. She climbed the stairs and went into the bathroom locking the door behind herself. She turned on the water letting it run to get hot and pulled off her dirty shirt. When she pulled her pants off she realized it had been a while since she’d had a chance to shave her legs. There wasn’t a snowball's chance in hell that she was walking around camp in shorts with Chewbacca legs. She opened the medicine cabinet and sighed in frustration when she didn’t find razors. She quickly opened every cabinet door and drawer until she found what she needed.

“Thank ya Jesus!” she said triumphantly as she pulled the half full pack of razors out and took one for herself. 

Elliette spent a good half hour in the shower scrubbing herself clean and shaving everywhere that needed to be shaved. When Elliette stepped out of the shower she sighed at how smooth her skin felt. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so normal. She put on her clean bra and underwear and her cotton sleep shorts. She used the towel to dry her hair and pulled on her t-shirt. She took the razor she used and took a new one and rolled them up inside her dirty clothes so she could keep them in her duffle bag for later. 

When Elliette stepped outside it was already dark outside. She headed over to her tent, walking carefully in the dark. When she got back to her tent she took the razors and tucked them inside her bag. She then tossed her dirty clothes onto the pile that she would wash in the morning and crawled into her sleeping bag. It wasn’t very late but Elliette could feel her eyes growing heavy as she quickly fell asleep.

~

“Take her.” Gregory said waving nonchalantly “make sure she learns her lesson, for good this time” he said.

She was back at that house, back in Gregory’s office. Crippling fear settled in the pit of her stomach, she knew what would happen. She had failed to complete her mission. She hadn’t killed her father back at the hotel and he ran his damn moth about it! He stabbed her in the back AGAIN and now everyone knew who she was.

Dimitri quickly snatched her arms, pinning them behind her back and drug her out of the room roughly. She fought against him as he drug her down the hallway. She kicked and screamed as he pulled her down the stairs and shoved her into that little room down in the basement.

“No! Please no! No!” she screamed as he pushed her inside the room.

“Stop your whining” he said angrily “You brought this on yourself” he said grabbing her by her shirt and swiftly bringing his fist down into her face.

Pain, searing hot, blinding pain was all she could feel as Dimitri punched and kicked her repeatedly. She curled herself into a ball as he continued kicking her. Everything started fading away and she gave in to unconsciousness. 

When Elliette woke up, all she could feel was pain. She looked around and saw concrete walls and dumpsters around her and she could hear car horns and sounds of traffic nearby. She was in an alley somewhere. She looked down at herself, she was wearing the same clothes but they were dirty and her shirt had blood on it. She leaned her back against a wall and sighed heavily. Dimitri beat the shit out of her, probably thought he had killed her, and dumped her in an alley. 

Then it hit her, hard, like a ton of bricks. They thought she was dead. They dumped her body, thinking they had killed her. There was no way they would have just left her out there like that if they didn’t. This was her chance to run! If they thought she was dead, they’d never come looking for her again!

She quickly pulled herself to her feet and started walking. She didn’t know where she would go, but it didn’t matter. This was her chance for freedom! She would walk across half the country if she had to! This was her golden opportunity, she thought as she shuffled out of the alley. It was finally over.

~

Elliette's eyes popped open and she sighed heavily. It was still very dark outside, probably the middle of the night. She rolled onto her back and stared up at the top of her tent trying to go back to sleep. She turned over a few more times, unable to get comfortable. She sat up and huffed in frustration. Deciding sleep wasn’t happening right now, she slipped on her boots and left her tent. 

Elliette walked through camp and sat down in one of the chairs by the fire. She stayed there for a while, watching the fire slowly die out. When there was nothing left but coals she stood from her chair, still not feeling sleepy. She looked around for something to do, the lone tent in the distance catching her eye. Elliette hesitated, there wasn’t a fire going so Daryl had to be sleeping. She didn’t want to bother him so late at night. 

Sighing, Elliette headed back to her tent, pausing when she reached it. She looked back over to Daryl’s tent then back at hers. 

“Fuck it” she said, turning on her heel and heading across the field to Daryl’s camp.

Elliette made her way through Daryl’s camp, walking up to his tent. Just as she was opening her mouth to call his name, the door of his tent opened quickly and she was met face to face with a loaded crossbow.

“Woah! Don’t shoot me!” she yelped, quickly stepping back and ducking down.

“Goddammit Dinky! What the hell are ya doin?” He asked angrily, lowering the crossbow.

“I couldn’t sleep” she said standing up straight again.

“Shouldn’t be sneakin around in the dark” he said stepping back into the tent.

“Sorry” she said stepping inside the tent with him. 

She watched his movements in the dark as he unloaded the crossbow and set it down on the floor of the tent. When he finished he turned around, his eyes trailed over her until they met hers. They stayed in silence, holding each other’s gazes. Elliette walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder.

“I had another dream” she said quietly.

“You ok?” he asked placing a hand on the small of her back.

“Yea” she said “It wasn’t a good dream, but it wasn’t bad either” she sighed. “It was different” 

“whatever that means” he mumbled. Elliette laughed and looked up at him. 

“What it means” she said “is that I think I’m finally letting go” she smiled up at him. 

“You think so?” He asked.

“Yea” she nodded.

“And you came all the way out here in the middle of the night ta tell me this” he said flatly.

“What? No... Just shut up” she said wrapping her arm around his neck and pulling him into a quick kiss. She pulled back briefly but Daryl’s lips were back on hers in an instant capturing them in a heated kiss.

Daryl wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him, his other hand moving to the side of her face rubbing her cheek with his thumb. Elliette sighed into the kiss, running her hands down his chest slowly. Daryl’s hand moved to her hair, grabbing a handful, the other hand sliding from her back, down to her butt. He squeezed and tugged her hair lightly at the same time. Elliette moaned in response and Daryl took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. Elliette’s hands trailed over Daryl’s firm chest, finding the buttons of his shirt and swiftly undoing them. With his shirt out of the way, her hands were instantly back on him. They grazed his chest lightly, feeling every scar from years of being outdoors. The heat of the kiss intensified as her hands explored his body. She moved her hands down more feeling the healing scar on his side, his stitches were gone but she could feel where they had been. He moaned roughly into her mouth as her hands moved lower, trailing over every inch of his waist. She stopped when she reached his pants, tracing patterns on his skin lightly with her fingers. 

They parted for air and Daryl began trailing small burning kisses down her neck. Elliette moaned as he tugged her hair and bit down on her neck lightly, then started back up her neck. She pushed his shirt from his shoulders and he released his hold on her, letting it fall. His hands moved to her waist, sliding under her shirt and quickly pulling it up over her head. His lips were immediately crushing hers hungrily as he tossed her shirt away. She snaked her arms around his neck and ran her hands through his messy brown hair. She shivered in anticipation as his rough hands trailed over her soft skin, moving from her waist, down her hips to the waistband of her shorts. The kiss grew feverish and demanding as her hands left his hair, quickly finding the waist of his pants and unbuckling his belt. 

Daryl suddenly pulled back, grasping her hands firmly in his. She looked up at him in confusion.

“You sure about this?” he asked in a husky voice.

“Yes” she said looking into his eyes. 

His grip on her hands loosened and she quickly finished undoing his pants and pushed them down, never breaking eye contact. He held her gaze as his hands found the waist of her shorts, quickly sliding them down and letting them fall to the floor. Elliette grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his and pulled him over to his sleeping bag with a mischievous smile. She pushed him down gently and climbed on top of him, straddling his hips. She quickly unclipped her bra and slid it off, tossing it away.

“Goddamn Elliette” he growled. He pulled her down and rolled on top of her kissing her roughly.

Elliette woke up to the sun shining in her eyes and blinding her. She rolled over and stretched, feeling a little sore after last night. It wasn’t her first time, but it was the first time in a while. When she opened her eyes, she looked around the tent and noticed she was alone. She saw that Daryl’s crossbow was gone too, he must have gone out hunting. She slowly got up and pulled her clothes on. She ran a hand through her messy hair in an attempt to make it look less “Slept in”.

“You up yet, Dinky?” she heard Daryl’s voice as the door of the tent opened. 

“Yea, just moving slow” she said pulling on her boots and tying them.

“Got some squirrels and a couple rabbits” he said as he put down his crossbow and turned to watch her. “you hungry?” he asked.

“Yea” she said smiling up at him. “Oh, Daryl wait” she said as he turned to leave. 

“What” he asked.

“Can I please have one of my hair ties back” she asked. 

“Nope” he said quickly and left the tent. 

She huffed in defeat. She could always snoop around and find them, but it wouldn’t do any good. He would only steal them again. She stood up, stretched her arms out over her head then stepped out to join Daryl for breakfast. 

Elliette sat down near the fire as he started cleaning two squirrels. She watched the muscles in his arms work as he quickly skinned and gutted the squirrels. He skewered them, placed them over the fire to cook, and wiped his hands and his knife off on an old rag that he always kept in his back pocket. He walked over and sat down next to her, watching the squirrels cook. After they ate, Elliette stood up and dusted the dirt off of her shorts. Daryl watched her as she dusted herself off and turned to look at him.

“I need to get back to camp” she sighed. 

“You got a hot date or something?” he asked standing up. 

“Oh yea. A very steamy rendezvous” she said in a sultry voice, trailing her finger down his chest.

“Dammit woman, behave yourself” he said grabbing her hand.

“Party pooper” she sighed, giving him a quick kiss. “Alright, I really do need to go now” she sighed. “I have a pile of dirty laundry calling my name” 

“Do mine while your at it” he said.

“Fat chance Dixon” she said flicking him on the nose. She quickly stepped away from him giggling at the dirty look he gave her. 

“See you later” she smiled and turned around heading back to her tent.


	19. Chapter 19

I made a Facebook if anyone is interested.

https://m.facebook.com/SquirmyWormy-597241980430201/

The rest of the week went by quickly. Elliette spent most of her days helping with chores around the camp and staying the nights with Daryl. She had tried talking to Rick several times but he was always so busy arguing with Shane, or discussing things with Herschel, that it just kept getting pushed back.

The day had finally come, Randall was able to get around on his own well enough, so it was time to send him on his way. Rick and Shane had tied Randall’s hands and feet together so he couldn’t move, and taped his mouth shut to keep him quiet. They put headphones on him, playing music from an mp3 player pretty loudly so he couldn’t hear anything, and put a sack over his head so he couldn’t see. They had decided to drive him 18 miles away and drop him off somewhere with a few supplies.

Rick and Shane had been gone for a while and everyone was just hanging around the camp waiting for them to get back. Even Daryl had made his way over and settled in one of the chairs around the fire, across from Elliette since it was the only one available, and busied himself with cleaning his crossbow. Elliette had borrowed one of Dale’s books and tried to occupy herself by reading, but it wasn’t working very well. She was completely distracted by Daryl’s sleeveless arms as he worked on cleaning the crossbow. Daryl glanced up and smirked when he caught her staring and Elliette quickly looked down at her book and continued reading.

A few hours passed and it was getting late when the sound of a car coming up the driveway caught everyone’s attention. They were all on their feet as Rick and Shane pulled up to the house, the tension between the two men was palpable as they stepped out of the car.

“What’s going on?” T-dog asked as Rick opened the back of the car revealing Randall still in the back.

“There were some…complications” Rick said vaguely. He continued to explain how they had found a place to drop off Randall, but it was over run with walkers and they were lucky to get out alive. He also informed them that Randall knew Maggie from school so the location of the farm was no longer a secret.

They quickly pulled Randall out of the car and drug him over to an old shed, locking him up for the time being. They decided to leave him in the barn for the night and discuss their options in the morning.

Elliette gave up any hopes of trying to focus on her book after that. She went back to the RV to put it away and headed over to Daryl’s camp. It had become a habit for her to go over to Daryl’s camp in the evenings. He was getting a fire going, the sun was starting to set and they would need the light.

“Ey, Belka” Elliette said as she sat down next to him.

“What the hell?” he asked poking at the fire.

“Its Russian” she said looking into the fire.

“Russian” he stated skeptically.

“Yep. I had to learn it because of Gregory, English wasn’t spoken very often around the house” she said, pausing when she realized what she’d said. She had never really spoken about her past, except for the brief synopsis she gave the group back at the CDC. Judging from the way Daryl had stopped playing in the fire, he had noticed too.

“Gregory?” he asked almost hesitantly.

“Gregory Vasiliev” she said “The head of the largest sector of Russian organized crime in New York City….He was my boss” she explained. 

“Oh” Daryl said, watching her from the corner of his eye.

“You can ask questions…if you want to…I won’t get mad” she said quietly.

“Nah” he said, taking her by surprise. “It don’t matter no more” he said looking over at her. She couldn’t help the smile that took over her face.

Daryl and Elliette fell into a comfortable silence after that. Daryl had skinned and cooked some squirrels for the two of them. After they had eaten, Daryl had settled in his usual spot. He had his legs stretched out and he was leaning back on his hands. Elliette laid down next to him and rested her head in his lap, looking up at the stars.

“They’re so beautiful” she sighed. 

“What?” Daryl asked looking down at her.

“The stars” Elliette said, still looking to the sky. “They’re amazing. You can’t see any stars in the city, I had never really seen them until I left”

“They’re just stars” he shrugged looking over at the fire.

“Hey, Daryl” Elliette said curiously.

“Huh?” he looked back down at her.

“What’re we gonna do about Randall?” she asked, suddenly very serious. 

“Don’t know” he shrugged.

Elliette sighed heavily and sat up. “I’m tired” she said standing up. 

Daryl stood and followed as Elliette slipped into the tent, pulling the hatchet from its usual place in her belt and setting it in the corner. She sat on the sleeping bag untying her boots slowly and pulled them off. She turned around when she heard Daryl plop down behind her. He was stretched out on the sleeping bag with his hands behind his head. She laid down next to him and snuggled into his side. Neither of them bothered undressing, the nights were getting pretty cold and they needed to keep warm. Elliette had to admit, she did have a really great snuggle partner. Even though he wasn’t really the snuggling type, he definitely radiated plenty of body heat to keep her warm.

Elliette pulled a blanket over them and sighed as she felt the warmth from Daryl surround her. She shut her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

~

Elliette pulled into the parking lot of the gas station she worked at. It had been about a year since she had left New York and she had spent most of that time moving around from place to place, never really able to stay in one town for very long thanks to her father and his big mouth. When he went around shooting his mouth off about her, the word spread like wildfire. It didn’t take long for law enforcement to pick up on the identity of the Russian Mob's most ruthless assassin, and before she knew it her face was broadcast on every major news station in the country. It usually didn’t take very long for someone to realize that the new girl in town was on the F.B.I.’s most wanted list. Elliette had more than her fair share of close calls, having to high tail it in the dead of night more times than she’d care to admit. 

After the last close call she had decided to just keep moving. She would only stay in one town for a few weeks, no more than a month, then she would move along before anyone would realize who she was. Her new plan had been working pretty well, she had been able to make it all the way to West Virginia without any more complications. 

When Elliette stepped into the gas station everyone froze, all eyes were on her. Elliette looked at all the shocked and surprised faces of the employees and customers, the TV in the corner caught her attention. Her face was flashing across the screen and the news anchor was announcing that she was considered armed and dangerous. Suddenly the girl at the register picked up the phone and started dialing frantically.

“Shit!” Elliette said, turning around and hauling ass to her car. She jammed her key into the ignition and slammed it into reverse. The tires squealed as she sped down the highway, heading out of town. She didn’t even bother going back to the hotel, she made sure to always keep the necessities in her car for just this reason.

She rolled down the windows and turned up the radio, letting the music calm her nerves as she drove in no particular direction. Elliette drove for a few hours when a sign caught her attention. “Welcome to Kentucky” she read aloud. It was starting to get dark and she was getting hungry, she would need to stop soon. It wasn’t much longer before she came to a small town and she pulled over to get some food and find a place to sleep.

~

Elliette woke up feeling a cold chill creep over her. She opened her eyes and realized that she was alone. This was nothing new, Daryl always woke up before her to go hunting. She quickly pulled her boots on and stepped outside, a shiver went through her when the breezy air hit her bare arms. Winter was coming quickly, that much was for sure. She quickly made her way over to her tent and slipped inside. She dug through her duffle bag and pulled out a hoodie, yanking it on quickly and wrapping her arms around herself to warm up. Elliette left her tent and joined the group, who were all in the middle of the camp.

“So, what are we doing?” Lori asked Rick just as Elliette walked up. 

“We’ll know in just a minute” he said looking across the camp at Daryl, who was walking over.

“He has a group. Thirty or so guys, heavy artillery, and they ain’t looking to make no friends.” He said. “They’ll kill our men for sure, and our women” he said glancing at Elliette “they’ll wish they were dead”

“What did you do?” Carol asked looking at Daryl’s bloodied knuckles with concern. Elliette noticed how worried she looked about him but tried not to over think things, remembering that Daryl and Carol had recently seemed to become friends.

“Had a little chat” he said stuffing his hands into his pockets. 

“Well, that settles it” Shane said looking over at Rick.

“We can’t just let him go, not after this” Rick nodded. 

“So, what?” Dale said suddenly. “We kill him?” He asked sarcastically. A look of disbelief crossed his face when no one spoke up. 

“You can’t be serious?” He said incredulously. “This is a person’s life!” he said looking around the group. “He’s just a kid!” 

“We have no other option” Rick said walking away. Dale quickly followed him, pleading with him to change his mind. 

Elliette wrapped her arms around herself and looked down at her shoes. She knew it was probably smarter to just kill Randall and get him out of their hair, but she was afraid that thinking like that would bring out the other side of her, the old Elliette. Dale came back to the camp and informed them that they would meet at sunset to vote and decide what to do with Randall. Everyone went their separate ways after that. Elliette was going to sit by the fire when she realized she had forgotten her hatchet back at Daryl’s camp.

“Damn” she sighed. She turned around and made her way across the field. Daryl hadn’t made it back yet so she stepped into the tent and grabbed her hatchet. She slipped it into her belt and left the tent.

“What’re you doing here” Carol’s voice startled Elliette, making her jump.

“I-I was just looking for Daryl” Elliette said quickly. Elliette and Daryl had kept their, whatever they were, to themselves. With the exception of the little display of affection that night, which Carol had missed since she was inside with Lori and Dale, they kept things quiet. 

“Oh” Carol said looking at her suspiciously.

“What’re you doing here” Elliette countered, not liking the way Carol was acting.

“Same” she said watching Elliette carefully.

“Y’all havin a girl scout meeting or something?” Daryl’s gruff voice caught their attention as he was walking up.

“Or something” Elliette said looking back at Carol.

“We just wanted to check on you” Carol said.

“No need, I’m fine” he said looking between the two women.

“Ok” Elliette said suddenly. “I’m going back to camp where there’s food and a warm fire” she said and Daryl nodded at her. 

“Uvidimsya pozzhe, Belka” she said and started walking away.

“Stop with the damn Russian” he said poking her side as she walked past him.

“Nope” she called out as she continued walking.

Elliette spent the rest of the day loafing around camp, trying to keep her mind off of the Carol incident. She didn’t know why Carol was acting that way, but she really hoped it was mostly in her imagination. When the sun started to set, everyone started heading up to the house. They were all gathered in the living room, waiting until everyone was there before starting the meeting. Elliette stood against the wall near the front door, letting Herschel’s family and the other group members sit down. 

The door opened and the last of the group came inside. Carol walked over to the wall on the other side of the living room, glancing at Elliette briefly then looking at the floor. She looked at Carol in confusion, wondering what was going on with her. She looked over when she felt someone standing next to her, and saw Daryl leaning on the wall beside her.

“So…what, are we taking a vote or something?” Glenn spoke up first.

“The way I see it, there’s only one option here” Shane said rubbing his head.

“To take an innocent man’s life?” Dale asked angrily.

“Maybe we could go with Rick’s plan from before. Drive him out, even further than before, and leave him” Elliette said.

“They barely made it back the last time” Lori said.

“She’s right, we barely made it back” Rick said looking at Elliette. “And we can’t take the risk of him finding his people and leading them back here.” He looked around the group. 

“Cant we just keep holding him hostage?” Maggie asked.

“Say we do keep him around?” Shane said. “Maybe he’s useful, but say he slips off one day, brings his people back here. Then what?” He asked. 

“So we kill him for a crime he may never even commit?” he asked getting visibly upset. “If you do this, what makes us any different from those people were so afraid of?” he asked angrily. “If you do this, everything we were, the world, will never be what it was. This new world, people killing people, survival of the fittest, I don’t want to live in a world like that.” Elliette could see the tears in his eyes, he was very upset about the whole situation. 

“Maybe we can think of something else” Elliette said quietly.

“Like what?” Andrea asked, “Because so far, we haven’t come up with one viable option.”

“Enough!” Carol said loudly catching everyone’s attention. “I’m tired of everybody fighting! Y’all decide what to do with him, whether he lives or dies, just leave me out of it.” 

“Saying you don’t want to be a part of it, that’s just as good as saying you want him dead!” Dale said. “But what does it matter, you people have already decided. I guess it’s just Glenn and I who don’t agree” he said looking at Glenn who was looking down at his lap. “Glenn?” 

“I just don’t want to lose anymore people.” He said not meeting Dale’s eyes. “Its them or us.” 

“So that’s it then. Doesn’t anybody stand with me on this?” Dale asked, looking around the room. Everyone was deathly silent.

“I do” Elliette said, breaking the silence. 

“What?” Everyone in the original group, including Daryl, asked in shock.

“I’m with Dale on this one” She said firmly, looking around the room.

“Are you fucking kidding?” Shane asked angrily.

“What?” Elliette asked in irritation.

“How can you even say that?” He asked, moving across the room and staring her down. “You especially!” he hissed narrowing his eyes at her.

“Because, not that long ago it was me in that position!” she said pointing in the direction of the shed where Randall was. “I was in the same as him! Y’all didn’t kill me!” she said looking around the group.

“Maybe we should reconsider” he growled, getting in her face.

“Hey!” Daryl said stepping forward defensively.

“Enough Shane!” Rick said pulling Shane away from her. “Elliette, that was different. These people, they’re bad news” Rick said.

“There has to be some other way” she said.

“It doesn’t matter, I see that now” Dale said in defeat. “You’ve all made your decision. I want no part of it” he said walking out of the room. He paused as he passed Daryl patting his arm. “You were right. This group is broken” he said and continued out the door.


	20. Chapter 20

Y’all should look me up on Facebook. It’ll be easier for me to talk to you. I love hearing from you guys!

https://www.facebook.com/SquirmyWormy-597241980430201/

So this story has taken a complete left turn from where I had originally planned for it to go. I have a good plan for where I want it to get and I hope the quality of the story doesn’t change, but honestly I’m completely making all of this up as I go. Please just bare with me if things start getting a little funky.

Thank you!! :)

•••

“Is there really no other option?” Elliette sighed heavily.

“The decisions been made!” Shane said staring her down. 

“Look, I’m not saying we roll out a welcome wagon here! I’m not a fucking idiot” she said. “I know he can’t stay here.”

“Then why are you still goin on about it?!” Shane asked loudly. “If this is some redemption shit, trying to clear your conscience or whatever, this ain’t the time or place for it!”

“What is your problem?!” Elliette asked loudly. “What happened to you Shane?! Ever since we got here, you’ve been a completely different person!” she said walking to the center of the room where he was and staring him down. 

“I grew up! Realized that things ain’t what they used to be!” he said glaring at her. “Its bout time y’all all do the same.” 

“So acting irrationally, taking matters into our own hands, and threatening people, that’s how we should be?” she asked “Because that sounds a lot to me, how you’d get yourself killed” 

“Is that a threat?” he growled out.

“If it needs to be” she said firmly.

“Listen here, bitch!” Shane said grabbing her shoulder roughly. She acted on reflex, taking hold of Shane’s arm and twisting it at an unnatural angle behind his back. She brought her foot down on the back of his knee, making it buckle, and put all her weight into forcing him down to his knees. She put her foot on his leg behind his knee and kept weight on it so he couldn’t get up. Everyone was instantly on their feet, Elliette noticed they weren’t stopping her but they were ready to take action if needed.

“You listen to ME, bitch!” Elliette said loudly, tightening her hold on Shane as he struggled against her. “You are seriously starting to damage my calm!”

“Get the hell offa me!” he said angrily.

“Shut the hell up!” She said twisting his arm painfully. “You better remember who you’re dealing with Shane” she growled “I’ve made men twice your size, cry for their mommies like children!”

“You crazy bitch!” he said shakily, breathing heavily through the pain.

“I’m not the one acting crazy Shane” she said. “You better believe me when I say this, if you ever threaten me again, threaten ANYONE in this group again” she lowered her head and whispered so only he could hear her. “I’ll have you on your knees, begging me for mercy. I’ll fucking kill you, Shane, and I wont think twice about it. Don’t push me.” she hissed before releasing her hold on him. 

“Stupid bitch!” he huffed as he stood up. 

Elliette ignored his comment as she turned away from him and walked out of the house. She stepped off of the porch angrily and headed to her tent. She laid on her sleeping bag and took a few deep breaths. There it was again, that old ugly side of herself. It always managed to push its way back to the surface, no matter how hard she tried to suppress it, it was always there. 

Maybe it had to be that way. In this new world, with people like Shane, maybe it was good that she had that side of herself to fall back on. Maybe she should quit pushing it away and embrace it. She had been raised to be a killer, and she was damn good at it too. These people didn’t even know half of what she was capable of, but they knew she had the balls to shoot Jim.

Elliette sat up quickly with a new determination. She was Elliette fucking Brooks! The girl who survived the Russian mob for God sakes! She was a total badass! She shouldn’t be pushing that away! That was making her weak! She should embrace the ruthless survivor she was, while also taking care of her new family! 

Elliette stood up and stepped out of her tent, noticing how dark it was outside. As she got closer to the camp she noticed Rick walking up with Carl in tow. 

“Get to bed” Lori told Carl, watching as he went inside the tent.

“Were keeping Randall in custody for now.” Rick said to everyone before turning to talk to Lori quietly. 

Suddenly a shout echoed across the farm and everyone was on their feet.

“T-dog! Get a gun!” Rick yelled as everyone started running out into the fields.

Elliette noticed Daryl was ahead of them, running towards a shadow in the distance. He tackled the shadow and struggled with it for a second before he was back on his feet waving them over.

“ Over here! Get help!” His voice reached them as they came upon the gory scene. 

Andrea ran over to Dale, who’s eyes were wide with fear, and stroked his face. His stomach had been ripped open and there was blood everywhere. Elliette saw a walker laying on the ground next to Dale, that had been stabbed in the head. 

“Get Herschel!” Rick yelled in panic.

“We need to do something!” Andrea cried.

“Someone get Herschel NOW!” Rick yelled again, just as Herschel was running over with Glenn.

“We have to move him!” Rick said desperately.

“He wont make the trip” Herschel said sadly.

“You have to do an operation! We’ll have to do it here!” Rick pleaded.

Herschel put his hand Rick's shoulder, shaking his head in defeat. Everyone went quiet, only the sounds Dale’s pained grunts and the groups soft crying could be heard. 

“He’s suffering!” Andrea cried out desperately. “Somebody do something!”

Rick hesitantly pulled his gun out and aimed it at Dale’s head. He paused, his hands trembling and his eyes tearing up. Daryl stepped forward, taking the gun from Rick and nodding at him reassuringly. He kneeled down next to Dale and aimed the gun at Dale’s head.

“Sorry brother” Daryl said quietly before pulling the trigger. 

Everyone was still and silent for a while, then slowly, they started moving again. Lori took Carl back up to camp, a few other people following them. Daryl had to get back to Randall and finish whatever he was doing with him. 

“We need to bury him” Elliette said. “We can’t just leave him here like this.” 

“We’ll put him with the others” Rick said quietly. 

“Lets go get the shovels” T-dog said nudging Elliette with his elbow lightly. 

“Ok” she said, following him as he headed towards the barn. 

They quickly retrieved some shovels and went over to the trees where the other graves were. They silently got to work, digging the grave for Dale. A while later, Rick and Daryl were shuffling over, carrying Dale’s body carefully. They laid him down on the ground gingerly as Elliette and T-dog continued digging. Daryl walked over, gently took the shovel from Elliette’s hands and took over digging. Rick did the same, taking over digging for T-dog. 

Elliette and T-dog moved aside, grateful for the break. She sat down a few feet away, watching as Daryl and Rick finished digging the grave. They gently moved Dale’s body into the hole and got to work burying him.

“We'll have a service for him tomorrow” Rick said quietly once the job was finished. 

They all quietly parted ways, T-dog and Rick heading back to camp and Daryl and Elliette going back to Daryl’s camp. 

When they got to the camp, they didn’t bother with food or a fire, they just went straight to the tent. Elliette tossed her hatchet down and sat down on the sleeping bag. She sighed heavily and ran her hands through her hair roughly. 

“You ok?” Daryl asked. Elliette turned to look at Daryl who was sitting on the other side of the sleeping bag, facing away from her. 

“Are you?” she asked quietly.

He turned to look at her, he held the usual stoic expression on his face, but Elliette could see the conflicting emotions in his eyes. 

“It’s hard” she said “killing people. Especially the ones who are close to you. Even if you didn’t like them much, its still hard.” 

Daryl sat there quietly, watching her intently. His blue eyes burned holes through her as she spoke. 

“It’ll be tough for a while” she said “then, it won’t be anymore. Before you even realize it, it’ll be like second nature to you. As normal as getting dressed every day.” 

“Dinky” he sighed roughly.

“You know, Daryl, I’ve realized something.” She said. 

“What” he asked.

“All this time, I’ve been so worried about trying to be more like y’all. When in reality, you guys are the ones who are becoming more like me” She said darkly. “Rick’s already killed two people, you’ve tortured Randall and just had to shoot Dale. Jesus Christ, its like reliving all my past shit all over again, except through you guys” she ran her hands through her hair roughly again. 

“Stop” Daryl said firmly, reaching over and squeezing her cheeks with his fingers, making her mouth squish together like fish lips. He chuckled lightly as she smacked his hand away.

Elliette looked up at him expectantly. He held her gaze with his own steady one. His blue eyes showing determination and resolve. 

“Things are different now, that’s one thing Shane’s got right.” He said. “But were not gonna lose control. We’re gonna do what we have to do to survive” he said. 

Elliette smiled and nodded at him, then turned back around and took off her boots. She set them aside and stretched out on the sleeping bag watching as Daryl pulled his boots off. Elliette scooted over so he could lay down then curled up against his side, pulling the blankets over them. They both lay there quietly for a while, unable to fall asleep.

“You ever talk to Rick?” Daryl asked, breaking the silence.

“About what?” she asked.

“Bout your back up plan. Just in case we lose this place” he said.

“Oh, no, not yet” she sighed. “I tried a few times, but he’s so busy trying to hold the reigns on Shane and Herschel, he really hasn’t had the time.”

“What'd you tell him earlier?” he asked.

“Who?” she asked.

“Shane. Whatever ya said to him really shut him up good. He ain’t said shit to anyone since earlier” he said.

“Oh, that” she giggled “Just a little persuasion.”

“Is that right” he said in amusement.

“He needed to be reminded about who he’s dealing with here. I’m not like the others, I won’t just sit back and deal with his bullshit the way they do” she said. “They’re afraid of him, of who he’s become, but I’ve dealt with people like him my whole life. He’s like a child, throwing tantrums when he doesn’t get his way.”

Daryl yawned and rolled over so he was facing her. “Get some sleep, Dinky.” He said wrapping an arm around her and pulling her against him.

“Spokoynoy nochi, Belka” she said snuggling into his side.

“Stop” he huffed and Elliette giggled.


	21. Chapter 21

Elliette woke up the next morning feeling an unusually warm weight on her. When she opened her eyes she was surprised to see Daryl still lying next to her, fast asleep. His usually grumpy expression was replaced with a serene one. She laid there quietly and watched him sleeping peacefully. She felt warmth fill her chest as she laid there in his arms. This man, this rough, grouchy, loyal, caring, beautiful man was hers. She never thought in a million years she would ever find such happiness, especially after the world changed. 

Elliette sighed happily and snuggled against Daryl’s chest, listening to his steady breathing. She jumped slightly when his arms suddenly tightened around her and he buried his face in her hair. 

“Daryl?” she asked quietly.

“Hm” he mumbled.

“Is everything ok?” She asked, her voice nearly a whisper. 

“Mhmm” he mumbled quietly into her hair, his arms still wrapped tightly around her. Elliette wrapped an arm around him and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest. 

“We gotta go soon. Pay respects to Dale” he said, his raspy voice making her shiver. 

“I know” she sighed. She pulled back some, looking up into his eyes. She never got enough of his blue eyes. They seemed especially vibrant in the early morning light. 

“Guess we should get up then, huh?” Elliette said quietly. Daryl nodded, loosening his hold on her. He sat up slowly, tossing the covers aside and rubbing his face. Elliette shivered and curled into a ball, the chilly morning air hitting her without the blanket. 

“Come on, Dinky.” Daryl said hoisting himself up from the sleeping bag.

“Alright” she huffed, dragging herself out of the sleeping bag. 

She stood up and stretched her arms over her head before turning to Daryl, her breath caught in her throat as he pulled his shirt off. Elliette walked over to him as he picked up a clean shirt, he froze in place when he felt her hand touch his back. Elliette’s hand gently grazed across his back, lightly tracing the long, dark scars that marked him. Her heart broke as she looked at the multiple scars. She had felt them before, but never seen them, she had never imagined they were so bad. She had just assumed they were from years of being in the woods, like the ones on his chest and arms, but this was completely different. Immediately she understood why Merle and Daryl were the way they were, why Daryl kept to himself and pushed people away, why he didn’t care to be touched very often. 

Daryl stood rigid as Elliette’s hand slowly trailed down his back. Sighing softly, she slowly leaned forward and kissed him gently on the biggest scar right across the middle of his back. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and held him, closing her eyes and resting her head against him. She wanted to cry for him, for all the pain he must have gone through, the suffering, but she wouldn’t. Crying wouldn’t solve anything, so she would be strong for him instead. She would love this broken man, and give him everything she had to give. She felt as he took a deep breath and slowly relaxed in her arms. 

Elliette released her hold on Daryl and moved in front of him. His head was down and his gaze was locked on the floor of the tent. She lifted her hands slowly, placing them on either side of his face and making him look at her. His piercing gaze locked with hers as her thumbs grazed his cheeks softly. She tiptoed and pressed her lips to his, kissing him lovingly. When she pulled back from him she released his face and wrapped her arms around him again tightly.

“Elliette-” he said quietly.

“Don’t” she cut him off. “You don’t need to say anything. I get it.” She looked up at him and he nodded lightly. “I’m gonna go change, I’ll meet you over there” she said pulling back from him. She slipped her boots on and picked up her hatchet before stepping out of Daryl’s tent and heading to her own.

All of the members of the Atlanta group had gathered to pay their respects to Dale. Elliette stood next to Daryl, listening quietly as Rick spoke.

“Dale could get under your skin. He sure got under mine. Because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I made a decision, I'd look at Dale and he'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another.” Rick spoke in a quiet steady voice. Elliette discretely slid her hand into Daryl’s, his firm grip grounding her, helping her keep calm as her eyes teared up.

“I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for what they were. He knew things about us. The truth, who we really are. In the end he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group is broken. The best way to honor him is to un-break it, set aside our differences and pull together. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves. Take control of our lives, our safety. Our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on, we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale." Rick finished strongly. 

The group stood quietly for a moment before heading back up to the house slowly. 

“We need to do a perimeter check” Elliette said capturing everyone’s attention. 

“I agree, that walker got through somewhere, we need to secure our boundaries” Andrea said. 

“Alright then” Rick nodded in agreement.

Elliette grabbed some supplies, some extra wire, pliers and a few other things and made her way over to the old blue truck where everyone had gathered. Shane and Andrea climbed into the front seats and Daryl and T-dog hoisted themselves into the back. Elliette tossed her things down in the back of the truck and squeezed between Daryl and T-dog, holding her hatchet in her lap. 

“So, organized crime, huh?” T-dog said nudging Elliette lightly with his shoulder.

“Russian Mob” she said looking over at him.

“Was it true? What you told Shane yesterday” T-dog asked. 

“Yea” she said hesitantly, looking down at her hands. 

“Don’t sweat it kid” he said “We’ve all got our demons. Way I see it, at least you can take care of yourself. That’s better than some men can even do.” 

“You think so?” she asked quietly.

“Yea. With this new world, people had to get strong, get tough. You were already tough. From the beginning. Way ahead of the rest of us. That day, back on the highway, I knew. You got what it takes. That’s more than half of us can say” T-dog said quietly.

Elliette laughed lightly and shook her head. “That’s an interesting thought, though I can’t say I agree with you” 

The truck slowed to a stop near the fence that marked the edge of the property and they quickly unloaded from the truck. They spent majority of the day walking the fence line, checking for weak points and repairing any spots that needed it. At one point they came across a group of walkers on the edge of the property, all of them more than happy to have something to vent their frustration on. 

When they got back to the farm they joined the rest of the group for dinner around the campfire. Things were quiet, everyone still somber after Dale’s death. 

“Hey kid!” Elliette said as she sat next to Carl on a log near his family’s tent.

“Hey” he said quietly.

“Is everything ok?” she asked nudging him with her elbow.

“Yea” he said quietly.

“So why’re you over here looking all depressed?” she asked.

“I’m not” he said in a clipped tone.

“Is that right?” she asked unconvinced.

“Yea! That’s right!” he said standing up angrily. “I said I’m fine!” 

“I call bullshit! Now sit down” she said gesturing to the log. “Before your mom comes over here thinking there’s a problem.”

“There is a problem” he said plopping back down next to her. “You won’t quit bugging me” He huffed angrily.

“Look, you don’t wanna tell me about it, fine. I can respect that” she said “but you should talk to someone about it. It’ll eat you up if you don’t” 

“Yea” he said noncommittally. “Can I ask you something?” 

“Sure, what” she said looking over at him.

“What’s it like to kill people?” he asked.

“What?” she asked in shock.

“I know you’ve done it. That day, with Jim, me and Sophia watched from the car. Everyone was worried that you were dangerous.” He said.

“Carl” she sighed. 

“Its my fault Dale’s dead” he said quietly. “I saw that walker before, in the swamp, and I didn’t kill it.”

“What?” Elliette said surprised. “Carl, that’s not-”

“Don’t!” He cut her off. “Don’t say it wasn’t my fault! It was! If only I had killed it, Dale wouldn’t be…” he trailed off.

“Carl! You didn’t kill Dale!” she said firmly, moving in front of him and kneeling down so they’d be eye to eye. “Yes, you made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. But that walker killed Dale! Not you!” 

“That’s bullshit, and you know it!” he said angrily. “Stop treating me like a baby, I know the truth!” 

“The truth” she said “So, mister grown up wants to curse and hear the truth, huh?” She chuckled. He looked her in the eyes, squaring his shoulders as if to show he wasn’t afraid of what she had to say.

“Alright, fine” she sighed. “You really fucked up, kid. You went where you had no business being, and lead a walker straight to us. And Dale paid the price for that.” she said in a hard tone. If he wanted to be treated like an adult, she would talk to him like an adult. “Now, you can sit here and drive yourself crazy stewing in your guilt, or you can learn from your mistake. You have a decision to make, kid. Are you going to honor Dale’s memory by pulling yourself up and becoming a better, stronger person, or you will you sit here letting it eat you alive?” 

“I-I don’t know” he struggled to answer.

“People die, Carl, every day” she said sternly. “Even before all this happened. It’s inevitable, Me, Glenn, T-dog, your parents…you. Everyone has a time limit. The question is, how do you want to spent the time you have? Sulking and feeling sorry for yourself over an accident? Or learning how to be stronger, how to survive so you don’t lose any more people” she said, staring him down.

“I get it” he said.

“Alright” she said quietly. “No more cursing! Your momma wouldn’t like it” she said standing up. “See you later” she said turning to walk away.

“Elliette!” Carl called out.

“Yea?” she said turning to look back at him.

“Please don’t tell my parents!” He said nervously.

“Ok” she said softly, turning to walk away.

She made her way across the field to Daryl’s camp, seeing his silhouette as he sat by the small fire. She quickened her pace nervously. She had to admit, she didn’t feel like it was such a great idea to be so far away from the group after what happened to Dale. 

“Where you been?” Daryl asked quietly as she sat down next to him. 

“Talking with Carl” she said quietly. “He’s having a hard time with Dale’s death.”

“Kid’s gotta grow up some time” he muttered.

“I don’t disagree, but he is still just a kid” she sighed. “Though, I’m starting to wonder what the hell is going on with Lori” she huffed.

“She’s knocked up, right?” Daryl asked, confused.

“Yea, I already knew that. I’m talking about with Carl. He told me he went into the swamps yesterday. Lori would have never allowed that, so where the hell was she while her son was wandering around out there?” Elliette said. “Call me crazy, but if I had a child in a world like this, I’d want to know where they were at all times.”

“Too caught up in her own mess” Daryl said. 

“I guess your right” she said “But she almost lost him once already, she needs to get it together and be there for her son.” 

They fell into silence after that, Elliette becoming increasingly more irritated with Lori by the minute. Didn’t she realize how lucky she had it compared to some of the others? Carol had just lost her daughter for goodness sake. It was a miracle that Carl survived that gunshot! She should be paying more attention to him, rather than playing pitiful me on the world’s smallest violin. She got herself into this mess, getting pregnant in the damn apocalypse, but she still had responsibilities.

Elliette ran her hands through her hair roughly, deciding that she’d talk to Lori tomorrow. She wouldn’t break her promise to Carl, but Lori needed a wake up call.


	22. Chapter 22

Y’all check me out on Facebook, its easier for me to talk to people on there.

https://m.facebook.com/SquirmyWormy-597241980430201/

So I’m so excited to finally be ending the farm! I have some big stuff coming in the next few chapters for Elliette that’s gonna totally flip her whole world upside down!! 

Enjoy guys!  
•••  
Elliette jumped awake at a clattering sound in the tent.

“Shit” she heard Daryl mutter under his breath.

“Daryl?” She asked, sitting up and looking at him. The sun was just coming up so the light was dim, but she could see him kneeling near the door, messing with his crossbow.

“It’s fine, go on back to sleep” he said turning to her briefly before continuing what he was doing. 

“You dropped your arrows?” She chuckled watching as he clipped the arrows into the holder attached to the crossbow. 

“Ain’t it kinda early to be a smartass?” He asked slinging the crossbow over his shoulder. 

“It’s never too early” she said standing up from the sleeping bag. “you going hunting?” 

“Nah, Rick wanted ta go over the plan for the kid” he said. “Need to just get it done already.” 

“Oh, ok. I’ll meet you up there then, maybe I can finally get him to talk about a back up plan with me” she said.

Daryl nodded and left the tent. Elliette pulled on her boots, grabbed her hatchet, and left the tent too. She quickly headed back to camp, going to her tent first to change clothes. She pulled on a long sleeve shirt and some fresh jeans before heading back out.

“Where have you been?” Carol said catching Elliette off guard.

“What do you mean? I haven’t gone anywhere” she said turning to look at Carol.

“You’ve been sneaking back here every morning for the last week and a half when you think no one is looking. What’s going on?” Carol asked suspiciously.

“I went for a walk” she said.

“A walk?” Carol asked unconvinced.

“Yes. I’ve got to keep myself in shape” Elliette said staring her down. It wasn’t completely untrue, she had walked from Daryl’s camp to her tent. That was a walk.

Carol stood there, staring at Elliette like she completely didn’t believe her, but didn’t say anything else. Elliette turned and continued on her way. The sun was all the way up now and the camp was coming alive, everyone was getting up and starting their day. Elliette decided to make a quick breakfast for everyone since she was already up. 

After a while the food was done and everyone had eaten and they were all getting started on the various chores that needed to be done. Elliette went up to the house to look for Rick, finding him and Daryl on the porch discussing the plan for Randall. She waited patiently, standing in the grass and leaning against the porch, as they finished going over the plans. When they were finished Rick folded the map up and turned to Daryl.

“Hey, about what you did the other day…” he said glancing at Elliette quickly, unsure if he should continue with her there.

“No reason you should do all the heavy liftin” Daryl said.

“Thank you” Rick said before turning to Elliette. “Did you need something Elliette?” He asked curiously.

“Yea” she said pushing away from the porch and looking up at them. “I really think we need to talk about a back up plan, Rick.” 

“Look, Elliette, no offence, but I need this Randall thing done now. Maybe we can talk about it later” he said.

“Rick, you can’t keep blowing me off. This is important!” she said.

“I’m not blowing you off, I’ve just got more urgent things to handle right now. We’ll talk about it afterwards, ok?” Rick said firmly. 

“Fine” she said.

Just then, Shane came rolling up in his car, quickly stepping out and making his way up to the porch.

“I gotta take a piss” Daryl said to Rick before walking away. 

Elliette didn’t say anything but followed suit, leaving to give the two men privacy. She made her way around the house and plopped down in one of the chairs on the porch sighing in frustration. A few minutes later, Daryl walked up to her, holding his crossbow over his shoulder. 

“Come on” he said gesturing for her to follow him. She stood and slowly followed him across the yard to the old blue truck. 

“What’re we doing?” She asked.

“Loadin supplies up. Rick’s still babysittin Shane” he said. 

“Ok” she said. 

They both got to work, loading up extra supplies, tools, water, and anything else they might need, Rick, Lori, and T-dog coming over and joining in about half way through. When they were just about finished, Herschel and Maggie walked up, catching their attention.

“Herschel” Rick said, nodding his head in greeting.

“We’ve been discussing things” Herschel said “And we think its time we move y’all into the house.”

“Are you sure? Fifteen people in one house, it’ll be a tight squeeze” Lori said.

“We’re sure. With the cold weather, those swamps are drying up.” Herschel said.

“And with fifty head of cattle, we might as well be ringing a damn dinner bell” Maggie said. 

“She’s right. We should have moved you in a while ago” he said. 

“Thank you” Elliette said. 

“Alright. Let’s move the vehicles, one by every exit, facing the road.” Rick said.

They all separated, each of them picking a car, Daryl on his motorcycle, and moved them close to all the doors of the house. When they were done, they quickly went to work, gathering their belongings and moving them into the house. Elliette tossed her things down in a corner of the living room since the men were taking the dining room.

Once everyone was finished moving Daryl and Elliette headed back over to the blue truck, T-dog and Rick not far behind them. T-dog walked up to Daryl, handing him a gun.

“Here, you only have so many arrows” he said.

“Wish I knew what happened to mine” Daryl said taking the gun.

“Alright, are we ready?” Rick asked.

“Yup” Daryl said.

“Ill go get the package “ T-dog said and headed over to the shed to get Randall.

Elliette walked over to Daryl, looking up at him. “Be careful, ok.”

He looked down at her and nodded. The sound of T-dog yelling suddenly caught everyone’s attention. They immediately ran over to the shed, even Herschel had come from the house when he heard the commotion.

“He's gone!” T-dog yelled.

“How did he get out?” Elliette asked.

“He must have slipped the cuffs” Rick said looking around the inside of the shed.

“But the door was locked from the outside” Herschel said inspecting the lock.

“Rick!” everyone immediately turned to the woods at the sound of Shane’s voice. He stepped out of the tree line, his nose swollen and bloody. 

“What happened?!” Rick asked.

“He’s armed! He got my gun!” Shane yelled.

“Are you ok?” Lori asked looking worried.

“I’m fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me! Got me right in the face!” he said angrily.

“Alright, everybody back in the house! Lock all the doors!” Rick said looking at T-dog. “Glenn and Daryl, y’all come with us. We’re gonna find him!” 

“Wait! Y’all can’t go out there all alone!” Carol cried. Lori put her arm around her shoulders and lead her back to the house. Elliette hesitated, but decided that it was probably better to sit this one out and followed the group back to the house. 

They had been waiting for a while, the sun had already gone down and everyone was starting to get worried. 

“Where the hell are they?” T-dog asked, looking through one of the windows. 

Everyone jumped at the sound of the back door slamming. Daryl and Glenn came into the living room looking less than happy. 

“Rick and Shane ain’t back yet?” Daryl asked.

“No, not yet” Lori said.

“We heard a shot” Daryl said.

“Maybe they found Randall” Elliette said.

“We found him” Daryl said.

“Is he back in the shed?” Lori asked.

“He’s a walker” Daryl stated.

“Did you find the walker that bit him?” Herschel asked.

“That’s the weird thing” Glenn suddenly spoke up “he wasn’t bit.”

“His neck was broke” Daryl said. 

Elliette felt a bad feeling arise in the pit of her stomach. Nothing about this whole situation made any sense. Even if Randall did manage to slip the cuffs off, how had he managed to get out of the shed that was locked from the outside. Not to mention the story Shane told, a boy half his size taking him down, that seemed unlikely. She was trained to fight and she still had a hard time manhandling Shane, that boy was an amateur at best with a gimpy leg, there was just no way. 

Elliette was snapped out of her thoughts by a little shadow darting across the doorway. She quickly stood up and peeked around the corner and saw Carl slipping through the back door, shutting it quietly behind him. What the hell was that boy up to now? She quickly followed him, closing the door quietly behind herself.


	23. Chapter 23

Elliette stood on the porch for a minute, scanning the yard until she caught sight of Carl running towards the field behind the barn. Elliette quickly jumped off of the porch and followed him, he was moving pretty quickly but her leg wasn’t injured this time, she could catch up to him before he got into trouble. She quickly passed the barn and saw Carl standing in the distance near Rick. 

“Carl!” she said as she caught up. 

Suddenly Carl pulled a gun out and aimed it at Rick. Elliette felt her heart skip a beat. What was Carl doing with a gun and why was he aiming on his father? When she looked up at Rick, who was desperately pleading with his son to lower the gun, she was even more surprised. It was Shane, but he wasn’t Shane anymore, and he was coming for Rick quickly. 

“Rick!” Elliette yelled just as a loud gun shot rang through the darkness. Rick turned around quickly, seeing Shane’s body fall back to the ground. 

“What in the world is going on here?!” Elliette asked in a shaky voice. 

“I’ll explain when we get back to he house” Rick answered in a tired voice. 

“Alright” she said. 

Rick stepped forward, putting an arm over Carl’s shoulders, and slowly started walking back towards the house. Elliette fell into step beside them listening as Carl started asking questions quietly and Rick tried answering, without really answering.  

They all froze in their tracks at the dreadfully familiar sound of growling. Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw when they turned around. The biggest herd of walkers they had ever seen before, and they were right on them. The three of them turned and rushed to the barn as the walkers were starting to surround them. Elliette grabbed Carl’s hand and pulled him into the barn, then turned to help Rick pull the doors shut. He quickly slid a metal rod into the door handles and pulled Elliette back as the walkers slammed against them.   
\---

Daryl stepped onto the porch followed by some of the group, all of them pausing when they saw the scene before them. 

Walkers, hundreds of them all over the farm, heading straight for them. 

Herschel told Patricia to turn off all of the lights in the house and Andrea rushed inside to grab the guns. 

“Maybe they’re just passing through, like the herd on the highway?” Glenn said. “Should we just go inside?” 

“A herd that size would rip the house down” Daryl stated. 

Lori suddenly came bursting out the door with a frantic look on her face. “Carl's not inside!” 

“What?” Glenn asked in shock. 

“I can’t find him anywhere!” Lori cried. 

“Elliette's gone too!” T-dog said stepping out behind Lori. 

“What?” Daryl snapped his head up. “Where the hell did she go?” he asked angrily. 

“I don’t know man, she’s just gone” he shrugged. 

“Maybe they’re together?” Glenn asked. 

“Goddammit, Dinky!” Daryl growled out. 

“We'll go look for them” Carol said pulling Lori back into the house.   
\---

Rick, Carl, and Elliette huddled in the middle of the barn taking a moment to catch their breath. 

“What are we gonna do! We don’t have the fire power to take on a herd that size!” Elliette whispered. Rick quickly patted himself down and pulled a lighter from his pocket. 

“I’ve got an idea. They’re attracted to fire, so we light up the barn. It could distract them enough for us to get back and help the others!” He said. 

“That’s a pretty shitty plan” Elliette sighed, “but it’s the only one we’ve got.” 

“Take this” Rick said handing the lighter to Elliette. “You two climb up to the loft. When I say now, you drop it.” 

“No, Rick. You’ve been through enough today. I’m quick on my feet, I got this” she said handing the lighter back to Rick. 

“Be careful “ he said. 

Elliette nodded and watched as he quickly ushered Carl up the latter to the loft. Once they were safely up the ladder, she turned back to the door, pausing when a red can caught her eye. She quickly ran over to the gas can and poured it out all over the barn floor. Tossing the can aside, she made her way up to the barn doors, banging on them and yelling to catch the attention of as many walkers as possible. 

Elliette took a deep breath before pulling the metal bar from the door handles and yanking the doors open. She walked backwards quickly, leading the group of walkers into the barn. 

“Now!” she screamed as she turned and jumped onto the ladder, climbing quickly. Rick dropped the lighter, the floor of the barn instantly bursting into flames thanks to the gasoline. 

Rick grabbed Elliette’s hand and hoisted her onto the loft. The three of them ran straight for the window, hopping out onto the roof of the lean-to. They stopped, looking down at the mass of walkers surrounding the entire barn. They were trapped on the roof between a blazing fire and a swarm of walkers. Just when Elliette was about to give up hope, someone came plowing through the fields in the RV. 

Rick managed to catch their attention and waved them over to where they were. Whoever was driving had managed to pull it close enough to them that they could get down. Rick jumped across first, quickly turning and holding his arms out for Carl. Once Carl was safely on top of the RV, Elliette jumped across and followed as Rick and Carl climbed down the ladder on the back of the RV. The three of them quickly ran to the front of the RV, pausing when they saw blood splatter all over the front windshield. 

“We gotta move!” Elliette hissed pushing Rick and Carl forward. 

“This way” Rick whispered once they snapped out of it. 

Elliette followed them, yanking the hatchet from her belt and holding it at the ready. They hurried to toward the woods, fighting off any walkers that came too close to them. They made their way through the dense trees, finding a quiet secluded spot to take a breath for a moment. 

“What do we do now?” Carl asked frantically. 

“I’m not sure” Rick sighed. 

“We need to go back!” Elliette said looking at Rick. “They might need our help!” 

“Alright, we’ll loop around through the woods” Rick said. 

“Lets go!” she said nodding. 

Rick lead the way, Carl and Elliette following closely behind him, as they raced through the woods. Elliette could hear screaming and the sounds of gun fire as they rounded the farm. As the woods started clearing, she could see tail lights of a few vehicles going off in all directions as everyone abandoned the farm. She felt her stomach twist in knots as she realized what was happening, they were being separated. This is exactly what she knew was going to happen! They didn’t have a plan in place and now everyone would be split up. 

“There’s one left!” Rick said pointing to the red truck still parked near the house. “Come on! It’s our only chance!” 

The three of them sprinted across the open yard desperately. The sound of a lone gun being fired nearby caught Rick attention. He quickly ran over, saving Herschel just as he was being over run. 

“Everyone in!” Rick yelled as he pulled Herschel along to the truck. 

Elliette quickly pushed Carl into the passenger side seat and slammed the door, then jumped into the back seat. She slid over as Herschel climbed in beside her and shut the door. Rick jumped into the driver’s seat, starting the truck and stomping on the gas. Elliette and Herschel looked out the back window, watching the farm slowly fade into the distance. 

Elliette turned forward, looking out the window as the sun started to rise. She was starting to come down from the adrenaline rush and she could feel the exhaustion setting in. She took a deep breath, running her hands through her hair roughly. Everyone was gone, they were all split up and they would probably never find each other. Daryl was gone. She hadn’t even seen him get out before they left, what had happened to him? Would she ever see him again? She felt tears in her eyes and took a few more breaths, pushing those thoughts away. She couldn’t think like that, she had to hold out hope! 

Rick had been driving for a while and Elliette wondered where he was heading. She looked out the window realizing that they were back on the highway where they had lost Sophia. Rick slowed the truck and crossed the median, pulling over near an old car that had supplies sitting on the trunk. They all got out of the truck quietly, checking their surroundings before lowering their guard. 

“What happened to Mom?” Carl asked with a shaky voice. 

“I don’t know” Herschel said sadly. “She went looking for you two, I didn’t see her after that.” 

“And the others?” Rick asked quietly. 

“I don’t know” he said sadly. 

“Well, it sure would be nice if someone had thought of a back up plan!” Elliette said to Rick sarcastically. 

“Elliette, now’s not the time!” he said firmly. 

“Now’s NEVER the time, Rick! That’s the problem! We could have been prepared for this if you would have pulled your head out of Shane’s ass for five fucking minutes!” she yelled. 

“That’s enough!” Rick yelled back. 

Herschel laid a hand on Elliette’s shoulder, shaking his head at her when she turned to look at him. 

“This is bullshit” Elliette said, turning and walking back to the truck. 

She climbed back into the back seat and laid down, deciding to take a nap while she had a chance before they’d have to run again. Elliette laid there, unable to fall asleep as her mind raced through the possibilities of what could have happened to the group. She could vaguely hear Herschel trying to convince Rick to leave him behind to wait, while they moved on. Rick adamantly denied him, saying he wouldn’t leave anyone behind. She sighed heavily and shut her eyes, pushing all the thoughts from her mind and slowly drifting off. 

Elliette jolted awake as a roar of a loud motor drew close, then died. She laid there, trying to figure out if she was dreaming when she heard familiar voices. She quickly threw the door open and jumped out of the truck, rushing toward the voices. She nearly burst out crying at the sight of the group back together, her eyes trailed over to Daryl standing next to his motorcycle talking to Rick. Elliette immediately rushed over to him, nearly tackling him in a hug. She let out a shaky laugh as his arms tightened around her and he buried his face in her hair. 

“Dammit Dinky!” He growled out “Don’t you ever do no stupid shit like that again” he said firmly. 

“Ok” she said quietly. 

Once the reunions were done, the group took a few minutes to discuss their next move. Elliette stood next to Daryl, listening quietly and trying to ignore the few curious glances she got. Once they had a plan, everyone started loading into the vehicles. Daryl climbed onto his motorcycle, looking at Elliette expectantly. 

“You walking?” he asked. 

“Oh, sorry” she said, quickly climbing on behind him and wrapping her arms around him as they took off and everyone followed. 

They drove for a while, the line of cars following the motorcycle down the highway. They had traveled for an hour or so, when one of the cars behind them honked a few times to catch their attention. Daryl slowed the motorcycle to a stop and everyone else followed suit, stopping right in the middle of the road. They all got out and met up in the middle of the highway. 

Rick was out of gas and there was no way everyone could pack into one vehicle so Rick suggested they stay the night. Several people didn’t agree with that decision, starting an argument about what they should do next. 

“We’ll make camp tonight! Get back on the road at day break!” Rick said firmly. 

“What if walkers come through?” Glenn asked. 

“Or another group like Randall’s?” Beth said. 

“Y’all know what happened to Randall, right?  He was turned, but he wasn’t bit.” Daryl said. 

“How is that possible?” Elliette asked. 

“We’re all infected” Rick said quietly. 

“What!?” Several of them asked at the same time. 

Rick continued to explain, saying that Jenner had told him back at the CDC, but he wasn’t sure if it was true. Everyone was pretty pissed they he hadn’t told them and they were sure to let him know about it. Elliette sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair, getting tired of listening to the group fighting with each other over everything. 

“Everyone shut the hell up!” she yelled suddenly, effectively silencing the group's argument. “Y’all stop fighting like damn children! What’s done is done! Let’s all just be happy we’re all still alive, and do what we need to keep it that way!” 

After that, everyone quietly went about setting up camp and Daryl came walking over to her. 

“Good job, shutting that shit down before it got outta hand” he said. 

“Thanks, I guess” she sighed. 

“Rick needs people watchin his back. This group’s turning on him quick” he said quietly. 

“He has to quit trying to please everyone and just do what’s best!” she said glancing over at him. 

“He will, don’t you worry bout that none.” He said. Elliette sighed and nodded her head. 

“I’m goin out to look for some fire wood, maybe hunt some too” he said. 

“Alright” she said quietly. 

“Stay close to the group. Don’t do nuthin stupid. “ he said firmly. 

“Yea, yea, I got it” she chuckled. He nodded and turned away, heading into the woods next to the highway, and Elliette went to help the group make a camp. 

Several hours had passed and it was extremely dark outside. The group sat around a small fire, everyone constantly freaking out over every little noise they heard in the dark. 

“I'm not sitting here and waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to move now!” Maggie said grabbing a gun. 

“No one is going anywhere” Rick said. 

“Then do something!” Carol whispered. 

“I AM doing something! I'm keeping this group together. ALIVE. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I killed my best friend for you people, for God sake!” Rick said angrily. 

Everyone looked at him in shock, not saying anything. 

“You saw what he was like. How he pushed me. How he compromised us. How he threatened us” Rick glanced at Lori and Carl. “He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back! He gave me no choice! He was my friend, but he came after me! My hands are clean!” Rick said looking over the silent group. 

“Maybe you guys are better off without me” Rick sighed. “Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you go and find out yourself. Send me a postcard! Go on, there's the door!” He said tossing his hands in the air. “You can do better. Let's see how far you get.” 

Everyone watched him silently, no one daring to move from their spots. 

“No takers? Fine. But let's get one thing straight if you're staying. This isn't a democracy anymore.” 

•••   
Y’all don’t know how badly I wanted Elliette to kill Shane!!! But I just couldn’t do it!! 

Rick HAS TO kill Shane! It’s such an important turning point for him! I just couldn’t take that away. It’s the same thing for Daryl when Merle dies, it’s the major event that leads to Daryl and Ricks eventual “brother” like relationship. 

As much as I love Merle’s character, its something that just has to happen   
:(


	24. Chapter 24

A new chapter! Yay! And Tomorrow is my baby girl’s birthday. I can’t believe she is one. Time flies too quickly! 

Also I posted this on my Facebook page but I’m going to be moving at the end of the month so I might not be able to post very often until after the move. I’ll be spending a lot of time packing but I will still try to post as much as possible! :)

Thanks guys! 

Also, Happy Birthday Norman Reedus!!   
•••  
A couple of months had passed since they had lost the farm. It was the dead of winter and the group was desperately searching for somewhere to sleep for the night. They were pulled off on the side of a back road, huddled around a map. 

“Here” Elliette pointed to a small dot indicating a town not far from them.

“But this one is closer” Glenn said pointing out another spot on the map.

“I know this town though, I used to live there. It’ll be easier knowing where we’re going rather that searching around blindly.”

“I gotta go with Elliette on this one” T-dog said. 

“Me too” Rick said. “it’ll be easier knowing where to look.”

They quickly loaded back into their vehicles and hit the road. After driving for a while, they pulled over on the outskirts of the town and gathered in the middle of the road.

“Alright, Elliette and Daryl, y’all go scout ahead” Rick said “Glenn, T-dog and I will stand watch here.” 

“Alright” she said, her and Daryl each grabbing their weapons and heading into the town.

Elliette lead the way through the deserted streets with Daryl watching her back. She headed to the closest place she knew, a small convince store that she used to work at, feeling hopeful when she realized that it was almost completely untouched.

“Think this will do?” she asked glancing back at Daryl.

“As good a place as any” he said nodding.

Daryl and Elliette easily cleared the store, killing just one walker in the storage room. They each grabbed a leg and drug it outside through the front door, since the back door was stuck shut, and pulled it around the side of the building and left it there. When they were finished they headed back to get the rest of the group from the highway.

They drove to the store, parking their vehicles near the front doors in case they would need to make a quick escape. Everyone hastily unloaded the things they would need for the night, then huddled inside and locked the doors.

“We need to cover these windows, the whole front of this store is solid glass” Elliette sighed.

“She’s right. Any walkers catch sight of us, we’ve got serious trouble” T-dog said. Elliette looked over at T-dog and smiled slightly. 

Elliette had gotten much closer with the whole group over the last few months, with the exception of Lori. They had gotten into it more than once about Lori’s failure to keep track of her son. Elliette had really come to like Glenn and T-dog, they were like brothers to her. Maggie had even joked about them being the three musketeers. Everyone knew about her and Daryl also, with all of them always stuck together, the cat had come out of the bag pretty quickly.

“What about these” Glenn asked, holding up a large stack of old newspapers.

“That’ll work” Rick said. “Everyone, grab some paper. Let’s get these windows covered” 

Elliette found a roll of tape behind the counter and they all quickly got to work covering the windows. Once the windows were blocked off they went their separate ways, claiming places to sleep and gathering food and water from the shelves.

Elliette and Daryl sat together against the back wall, quietly eating stale chips and old candy bars. 

“You know, this place has a good bit of food left” she said. “We could stay here for a few days, rest up a bit before moving on again.”

“I’ll talk ta Rick, see what he thinks” Daryl said.

“Ok” she said.

The sun had gone down and everyone was settling down, trying to get some sleep. Elliette laid next to Daryl, snuggling into his side and pulling their thin blanket over them so they could try to stay warm. Just as she was starting to drift off, the familiar sounds of gunshots rang through the air. 

She and Daryl bolted up along with the rest of the group. They all readied their weapons, being careful to be as silent as possible. Daryl and Elliette walked over where Rick was standing by the front doors, Glenn and T-dog quickly joining them. They waited quietly, visibly tensing as the sounds got closer.

“What’re we gonna do?” Glenn asked.

“They’ll lead every walker in the area right to us!” T-dog said angrily.

“We might need to go out there and take care of the problem” Daryl said.

Elliette pulled back the corner of a newspaper from the window and peeked out. She noticed the silhouettes of two men rounding the corner of the building across from them, desperately running away from a group of walkers.

“Guys, look!” Elliette said stepping back from the window so the four men could look outside. 

“They’re in trouble!” Glenn said. “Should we help them?” he asked uncertainly.

“I don’t know, they could be trouble!” T-dog said. 

“We don’t have time for this!” Elliette hissed. “Rick?” she asked turning to him.

“We need to help them” he said quickly unlocking the doors. 

Rick and Daryl quickly ran outside to help the strangers while Glenn and T-dog guarded the doors. A few seconds passed before Rick and Daryl came barreling back inside, the two strangers following right behind them. Glenn and T-dog quickly shut the doors and locked them. Not a moment later they heard the sounds of walkers against the glass.

Elliette glanced at the two men that were now standing behind Rick and Daryl and froze. She felt her heart beating out of her chest as she studied their faces closely, trying to figure out if she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing. What were those two doing here? And what the hell were they doing together? She felt a mix of fear, confusion, and most of all anger as she looked at Dimitri and her father.

“No. No, no ,no” Elliette muttered to herself catching the attention of the group.

“What?” Daryl asked quickly.

“Elliette” Dimitri said quietly, his Russian accent much thicker than she had remembered. Daryl’s head snapped in his direction, looking at him in confusion. The rest of the group had come closer, watching them carefully.

Elliette rushed over to them, yanking the gun from her pants and pointing it at Dimitri’s face. A look of sadness crossed his face as he slowly lifted his hands in surrender.

“Hold up a second” Daryl said, moving to her side.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” She asked angrily.

“Quiet down!” T-dog said roughly as the walkers began hitting the glass, trying to get inside. “What the hell is going on here?” he asked.

“Elliette, please-” Her father started.

“Shut it, Robert!” She hissed, turning the gun on him. “You’re lucky I don’t shoot your ass right here and now!” 

“Elliette” Robert said again “please just talk to us” he pleaded.

“No!” she said angrily, “You’re lucky I’m not in charge here, or you’d be back out there as walker bait right now” she said. 

“Elliette, you need to calm down” Rick said in warning. The sounds of growling and banging continued as the walkers tried to get in.

“Elliette, please, allow us to explain” Dimitri said.

“What’s there to explain?” she asked angrily. “You nearly killed me! All because of HIM!” she pointed at Robert angrily. 

“What?!” Daryl growled angrily.

“Its not what you think! We were trying to save you!” Robert said quickly. 

“Bullshit!” she called.

“It is the truth!” Dimitri said. “The night of the hotel job, Vasiliev let slip who your target was. Marino was just the chump, the cover story. It was a set up. He was counting on you to fail!” he explained quickly.

“What?” she asked angrily. The whole group had gone silent by that point, their curiosity getting the better of them. The only sound was that of the walkers outside the doors.

“He was looking for ways to get rid of you” Dimitri said. “You had gotten good at your job, too good. He knew if he continued to hold you there against your will, he would only be putting himself in danger. So he sent you on a mission that he knew you’d fail, so he could kill you before you killed him.”

“So? What the hell would you care?” she asked angrily.

“It was my job to protect you” Dimitri said. “I promised your father I’d always protect you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” she asked angrily.

“Elliette” Robert said. “The story you think you know , it isn’t the truth. I did have problems with gambling when you were young, that was true. I owed everyone in the city money, lots of money. They sent people after us, killed your mother” he said sadly. “Dimitri was an old friend of mine. I asked him to take you in, to protect you while I straitened my life out. That was supposed to be as far as it went!” 

Elliette couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could he expect her to believe anything he had to say? The banging on the door was steadily decreasing as the walkers lost interest in trying to get inside.

“When Vasiliev found out” Dimitri said softly “He saw an opportunity, he demanded that we teach you, make you useful, or he would kill you himself” he sighed. “Everything I ever did was to protect you”

“But you tried to kill me!” she said in disbelief.

“After the hotel, after you spared my life” Robert said “I went to Dimitri and we came up with a plan to get you out. We wanted to be sure Vasiliev really wanted you gone for good, so we leaked the information to the media.”

“That day, I told Vasiliev I killed you, like he’d wanted me to. You were unconscious, so I left you in the alley to make it look believable.” Dimitri said.

“I was supposed to go pick you up and help get you out of town” Robert said “but by the time I got there, you were already gone.”

Elliette felt her heart drop to her stomach. It never did sit right with her that she was left in that alley, still alive. They had always made sure to “guarantee” the job was done. She had laid awake many nights, wondering why they would take the time to leave her in that alley without making sure she was dead first. Suddenly their story wasn’t sounding so crazy anymore. It actually made perfect sense.

“What the hell are y’all doing down here, why aren’t you back in New York?” she asked curiously.

“We were trying to find you” Robert said. “I had a few friends in high places, every time they’d get a call about you, he’d let me know and we’d try to find you, but you were always gone already.”

“You are very hard to track down when you don’t want to be found” Dimitri chuckled.

Elliette stood there, looking at the two men that she had spent her whole life hating. Everything she thought she knew was all lies. She wasn’t sure how she should feel about the situation, but she sure wasn’t happy about it. She had been angry at them both for so long, if they thought she would just forget everything these idiots did to her because they told her the truth, they were dead wrong. 

Elliette slowly put her gun back in the waistband of her pants and glanced across the room, taking in all the curious faces of the group. Her eyes landed on Daryl who was watching her carefully. 

“Do what y’all want with these two idiots. I’m going to sleep” she said bitterly, walking away from the group. She went back to hers and Daryl’s spot, sighing heavily and running a hand through her hair in frustration. She pulled the gun from her jeans and laid it next to her hatchet and laid down, ignoring the feeling of a dozen eyes on her back.


	25. Chapter 25

Elliette laid in her spot for what felt like hours, listening to the hushed conversations between the group and the two idiots. Feeling her frustration only becoming stronger, she got up quickly and went to the back room, shutting the door quietly behind her. She moved to the far side of the room and sat down in the corner. 

Elliette sighed as she replayed the conversation in her head. Almost everything she thought she knew was a lie. Everything she went through, all the pain and loneliness, and that fucking idiot Dimitri had the nerve to say he was protecting her? 

Elliette felt tears well in her eyes, pulling her knees to her chest, she buried her face in her knees and cried quietly. For the first time in a very long time she let herself cry for herself. She had decided when she was young that she wouldn’t feel bad for herself and she wouldn’t cry over her situation, but now after all this time, her walls were crumbling. She couldn’t hold back the emotions anymore. She curled into herself more, sobbing quietly, all alone in the dark stock room of the abandoned convenience store.

Elliette nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt someone rubbing her back gently. She snapped her head up quickly, her green eyes meeting the familiar piercing blue ones.

“Daryl” she said in a shaky voice. “I didn’t hear you come in” she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks quickly. She knew he saw her crying, but for some reason she felt like it was stupid for her to be sitting in the dark feeling sorry for herself.

Daryl didn’t say anything, just watched her carefully as she tried to hide the evidence of her breakdown. Elliette looked up at him expectantly, waiting to hear what he had to say.

“Come here” he mumbled. Elliette obediently scooted closer to him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. 

“I bet you think this is all really stupid, huh?” she asked quietly.

“Kinda” he mumbled.

“You don’t know what that man put me through” She whispered harshly. “I was just a kid, and he forced me to…” she stopped to release a shaky breath as she tried to hold back the tears. “I never asked for any of this” Elliette said burying her face in her hands, Daryl tightened his hold on her slightly.

“Maybe it would have been better if Robert had just let me die like my mom” she mumbled quietly. 

“Hey” Daryl said angrily, grabbing Elliette’s shoulder and turning her to look at him.

“The hell are you saying?” he asked angrily. “Just cause things ain’t what you thought, now yer just ready to quit?” Elliette looked into his eyes, surprised by his sudden angry outburst. He was a hot head, she knew that, but he had seemed to mellow out in the last few months. It had been a while since she had seen him so angry.

“Ya can’t just quit when things don’t go yer way! You’ve kept it together through everything so far, and now yer gonna let sumthin stupid like this break ya? What’s it even matter anyway?” He asked her roughly. “That life is over! That world is gone!”

Elliette couldn’t help but feel like an idiot for saying what she had said. Daryl was right, she couldn’t just give up now, not because of those two idiots out there. They’d controlled and ruined her life enough, she wouldn’t let that happen anymore. Never again.

“This is our life now, not what it used to be” Daryl growled angrily. 

“You’re right” she sighed “I’m sorry. It was just a lot to take in all at once, I guess” she said softly.

“Stop apologizing” he huffed, wrapping his arm back around her and pulling her back against him. “Just, don’t go givin up” he mumbled. “Its gettin harder out there, everyone losin hope, can’t have you breakin down on me too” he said quietly. 

“I know” she sighed. “I’ve seen it too, everyone is completely exhausted running around all the time. Lori is barely on her feet anymore, she needs to rest” Elliette said.

“Thought y’all wasn’t buddy, buddy no more?” he asked.

“I don’t agree with her decisions, but that don’t mean I want her to fall out on us because we’re running her ragged.” She said. “We need to find a safe place, somewhere we can be for a while.”

“This place ain’t permanent, but you were right, its got enough for now” Daryl said. “I’ll talk ta Rick bout stayin here a few more days, restin up before we move again.”

“Ok” she said quietly, watching as he stood up and dusted off his pants.

“You coming?” He asked, looking down at her expectantly.

“Yea” she said smiling up at him. She stood and dusted off her pants as well.

“Wait” Daryl said stopping her as she started to walk out of the dark room. She watched him curiously as he pulled her hatchet from his belt and handed it to her. “Keep it on ya” he said sternly.

“Right” she said taking the hatchet and slipping into its place in her belt. 

“Come on” he said, leading her out of the back room.

They found Rick leaning against the front windows, peeking through the newspaper and keeping watch. Glenn and T-dog were leaned against the windows on the opposite side, discreetly keeping an eye on Dimitri and Robert who were huddled in a corner eating.

“Rick” Daryl said, catching Rick’s attention. 

“Everything ok?” Rick asked, glancing over at Elliette who’s eyes were still a little red from crying. 

“Yea” she said softly. “We just wanted to talk to you about something” 

“Is it about them?” he said glancing toward Dimitri and Robert.

“No, no its about us” she said quickly. 

“What about us?” he asked cautiously.

“Our people need a break” Daryl said. “They’re slowin down. We need ta stop for a few days and rest” he stated.

“We can’t stop” Rick said firmly.

“It’s just for a few days, so we can rest and get our strength back up. This place is secure and has plenty of food for the time being” Elliette pleaded. She hadn’t said much about their constant roaming, but she had to admit, it was really wearing her down. She desperately wanted to wake up in the morning and not have to worry about where they would be going next or if they’d find some place stay for the night. 

“Think about Lori” Elliette said. “She needs to rest. Why not take advantage of it while we have the chance.”

“Alright, two days” Rick said sternly. “After that, we pack up and move on” 

“Thank you!” Elliette sighed, throwing her arms around Rick happily. 

“Get some rest” Rick said as Elliette pulled away from him.

“You too” Daryl said looking at Rick seriously. “Cant have you fallin out on us.”

“Yea, I know” Rick sighed. The exhaustion was clear on his face and Elliette was happy he decided to finally stop and take a break.

Daryl and Elliette headed back to their spot, setting their weapons aside and laying down. Elliette pulled the blanket back over them and snuggled against him, sighing softly when he wrapped his arm around her and held her close. Daryl Dixon wasn’t one to cuddle, so on the rare occasion he did, Elliette soaked it up as much as she could. 

“Get some rest, Dinky” he mumbled softly.

“mhmm” she hummed, already feeling herself drifting off.

When Elliette woke up she was completely wrapped in warmth and she could hear Daryl’s steady breathing. She opened her eyes and realized that she was snuggled against his chest and his arm was wrapped tightly around her. She didn’t need to look at him to know how tired he was, he had been running himself completely ragged lately. Daryl was the one who would usually go scout out new places for them, he would get up at dawn to go hunting so they could have something to eat for the day, and stay up after everyone else went to sleep to keep watch. 

No one else seemed to notice how tired he was, but Elliette could see it. He was wearing down and he needed the break more than anyone. She closed her eyes and snuggled against him, prepared to lay there as long as necessary to let him get some sleep. 

Elliette laid there quietly in Daryl’s arms for two hours, listening to his steady breathing and the sounds of the group as they all slowly started waking up. She listened to the hushed conversations through the store and the sounds of food wrappers as they enjoyed having food readily available. Not long after, Daryl finally started to stir. 

“Dinky” he said softly, his voice raspy from sleeping.

“Yea?” she asked, her voice nearly a whisper.

“How long you been up?” He asked, releasing his hold on her and stretching his arms.

“Couple hours” she replied looking up at him as he sat up.

“Shoulda woke me up” he said rubbing his shoulder. 

“You needed the rest” she said sitting up also. “Your shoulder bothering you?” 

“Just sore” he said dismissively, moving to grab his crossbow.

“Wait” She said softly scooting around to kneel behind him. She pulled the leather vest away from his shoulders and he slipped it the rest of the way off, laying it on the floor next to them. Elliette trailed her hands across his back, slowly working her way up to his shoulders. She gently massaged his shoulders, feeling how tense his muscles were under her hands. When she felt his muscles begin to relax she wrapped her arms around his neck from behind and kissed his cheek softly. 

“Feel any better?” she asked quietly. He nodded silently and Elliette released her hold on him. She stood and walked over the shelves, browsing the selection of junk food available. She grabbed a bag of chips, some cookies, a few candy bars and some water and headed back to her spot. Daryl was gone when she returned, which was normal. She looked up and saw him at the front of the store talking to Rick, Glenn and T-dog, probably making plans for something. 

“He is a good man” Elliette turned around quickly at the sound of her father’s voice. 

“What?” she asked confused.

“That Dixon guy. Not what I would have preferred for my little girl, but he is a good man” he said.

“Whatever” she huffed, sitting down and tearing into her food.

“Elliette” he sighed sitting down next to her. “I understand why you’re upset with us, but I just want you to know, we really did have the best intentions for you. We may have made mistakes, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t care”

“It doesn’t matter anymore” she sighed.

“Huh?” he looked surprised.

“Daryl talked some sense into me last night” she sighed tossing aside the stale cookies. “That life, that world is behind us now. Time to move on from it” she sighed.

“He sounds like he has a good head on his shoulders” he said.

“He does” she nodded.

“Intimidating as all hell though” he chuckled.

“Yea, he’s like that” she smiled softly. “But he takes care of us. Always makes sure we’re safe, have enough to eat, him and Rick are keeping us alive.”

“Which one is Rick again?” He asked curiously. 

“The tall guy talking to Daryl” she pointed out.

“Oh” he nodded.

“You’ll learn everyone’s names soon enough” she said.

“Am I to assume you don’t want to throw us out as bait anymore?” He asked curiously.

“No, I’ll save y’all as bait for later” she chuckled. “You two might be Idiots, but like it or not, y’all are the only family I’ve got left. We all have to stick together if we want any chance of survival.”

“Thank you” he said softly before standing up and going back to where Dimitri was sitting on the other side of the room.

~•~•~•~  
Hey guys! Sorry I haven’t updated in forever, but I’ve had crazy writers block on this story for a little while. 

My Norman Reedus Fanfic on the other hand has been flowing like a dang river.

I’ll try to post again soon but moving day is coming quick so I’ll be busy. 

Thanks for being patient guys, y’all rock!

Please remember to like and comment! :)


	26. Chapter 26

Elliette sat there for a while, picking at a candy bar and enjoying the fact that they were in no hurry to leave. She looked up when she heard someone coming toward her, smiling when she saw Beth standing there.

“What’s up?” Elliette asked curiously.

“Do you have a clean shirt I could borrow? We’re about the same size, so I figured I’d ask you first” she said looking down at her shirt that was stained with something brown and crusty looking.

“I don’t, sorry” Elliette replied, glancing down at her own shirt that was splattered with dirt and blood.

“Oh” Beth sighed.

“I have an idea” Elliette said, standing quickly. “I’ll be back” 

She grabbed her hatchet and gun, slipping them into their usual places, and walked over toward Daryl, Rick, T-dog and Glenn.

“Rick” she said catching their attention.

“Yea?” he asked looking at her warily.

“We need to do a run” she said.

“What the hell for?” Daryl asked, obviously not happy with the idea.

“Clothes” she said firmly. “There’s a few shops just down the road from here, I can take a small group, grab what we need and get back quick” she said. 

“Now, wait just a minute” Rick said holding a hand up.

“It’s getting colder Rick” she said, not backing down. “We need warmer clothes, thicker blankets. We might even be able to find some baby clothes” she added hopefully.

“She isn’t wrong” Glenn said.

“Would be nice to have some thicker sleeves on when we’re runnin around out there” T-dog said looking at Rick.

Rick glanced around at everyone, his eyes landing on Daryl. He raised his eyebrow in question and Daryl nodded in response. 

“Alright” he sighed.

They had decided that Elliette, Daryl and T-dog were going on the run, and Rick and Glenn were staying behind to keep watch over the rest of the group. Elliette grabbed a handful of plastic bags from behind the counter before they headed out so they would be able to carry back clothes for the rest of the group. 

Elliette held her hatchet at the ready as she lead Daryl and T-dog down the abandoned street. They rounded the corner, keeping close to the buildings as they crept down the street quickly. Elliette stopped in front of the first store, glancing over at Daryl and T-dog who were watching her back, before knocking on the door. They waited a moment before heading inside. 

They quickly made their way around the store looking for anything they needed. It was a thrift store, so there was a pretty unique variety of things to choose from. Elliette went to the women’s clothes, grabbing a few long sleeve shirts and jeans that would fit her and Beth. She moved along, getting clothes for Maggi and Carol. She came across a small rack of maternity clothes, but they were all summer clothes, mostly thin shirts with no sleeves and shorts. She did find a pair of maternity jeans that she thought might fit Lori and stuffed them into a bag before moving on. She grabbed a few jackets that looked pretty warm and some extra large t-shirts for Lori to accommodate her growing belly. She looked through the rest of the store for blankets or baby clothes, but couldn’t find any.

When she was done she went back to the front of the store where T-dog was waiting. He had on a new jacket and had a few bags of clothes for the other guys. They both turned when they heard Daryl coming up behind them, Elliette quickly covered her mouth to stifle her giggles. Daryl was wearing a tan poncho that was decorated with a colorful triangle pattern.

“You got something to say?” he asked her as he handed her a few more bags of clothes.

“That’s a very sexy poncho” she said with a laugh. 

“Damn right it is” he said readying his crossbow. 

“Let’s get back” T-dog said shaking his head at them.

Elliette hooked the bags on her arms, holding her hatchet firmly as they slipped out of the store quietly. T-dog was leading the way down the quiet streets to their convenience store. They all froze when they heard moaning in the distance and quickly ducked into an alley between two tall buildings. They pressed themselves against the wall as Daryl looked around the corner. 

“Walkers” he mumbled “A lot of em.”

“Which way?” T-dog asked.

“Behind us. We need to move quick” he said. 

They left the alley, the three of them running back to their store as fast as they could. Elliette felt panic rising as the moaning turned to hungry growls when the walkers caught sight of them. They picked up speed as they neared the store, Elliette feeling some relief when Rick and Glenn pulled the doors open for them. The three sprinted into the store, Rick and Glenn quickly pushing the doors shut and locking them. A moment later the sounds of walkers slamming against the glass echoed through the store. 

Daryl turned to Rick, explaining what happened out there as Elliette and T-dog went to hand out the clothes they had gathered. Elliette walked over to Beth and Maggie, pulling out the clothes she had found for them.

“Thank you” They both said. 

Elliette smiled and moved on to Carol, handing her the clothes before heading over to Lori. She sat down next to her, eying her rounding belly. 

“I got you some clothes” she said handing Lori the bag with her clothes in it. “The shirts might be too big still, but I found some maternity pants that might be more comfortable.” 

“Thank you Elliette” she said softly, holding the bag like it was a lifeline. “For everything” she added quickly.

Elliette nodded and patted her shoulder comfortingly. “I know we haven’t seen eye to eye lately, but we’re still a family” Elliette said quietly. 

Suddenly a loud crack split through the air. Elliette jumped to her feet and ran up to the front of the store in a panic.

“What was that?” she asked quickly, having to raise her voice over the sounds of the walkers banging on the glass.

“I think the glass is cracking!” Glenn said, jumping at the sound of another loud crack.

“Everyone get back! Go to the stock room!” Rick yelled. 

Everyone was on their feet, scrambling to grab their things and running to the back room. Elliette snatched up her clothes and blanket, pausing for a moment to see where everyone was. Rick and Daryl were ushering everybody inside, she quickly followed and they pulled the door shut behind them. 

“What do we do now?” Carol cried anxiously.

“That little door won’t hold very long with that many biters out there” Dimitri said.

“Everyone calm down! We need to think of a plan!” Rick said, silencing the group. 

“Maybe we can sneak around the back and get to the cars” Glenn said pointing to the back door with an exit sign on it.

“No go. We checked it earlier, its stuck shut” Elliette sighed. 

“We can’t just stay in here forever” Beth said.

Elliette sighed, looking around the stock room for any ideas. It was pretty dark except for a few streams of light coming through some small windows that were really high up near the ceiling.

“I have an idea” she said, catching everyone’s attention. “those windows are small, but they’re big enough for me to squeeze through. I’ll bust one out and sneak around front and create a distraction somehow. When it’s clear, y’all run for it!” 

“Hell no!” Daryl nearly yelled. 

“I’ll go instead” Robert volunteered. “It’s the least I could do for you” he said looking at her sadly.

“You won’t fit” Elliette sighed. “The window is too small, it’ll be a tight squeeze even for me.” 

“You ain’t goin nowhere” Daryl growled angrily.

They all froze at the sound of the front glass shattering and just a moment later the walkers were growling and banging on the door of the stock room. 

“We have no other choice” Elliette stated, quickly walking over to the corner of the room. 

She pulled her old dirty shirt off and yanked on one the new one she took earlier, not really caring at the moment who saw her. 

“What the hell do ya think yer doin?” Daryl asked bounding across the room to her.

“Saving our lives” she said looking over at him.

She held the dirty shirt tightly as she grabbed a couple of bottles of whiskey from the shelves and wrapped them in her old shirt, tying it tightly together. 

“Yer gonna get yourself killed!” he said grabbing her shoulder and turning her toward him. 

“What other option do we have?” she asked him shakily. “There’s no other way out! The only other people that’ll fit through are either Beth or Carl, and I’m not sending a kid out there! I’m the only one who can do this!”

He silently stared at her for a minute before releasing her shoulder and reluctantly nodding. 

“As soon as its clear, y’all run!” she said sternly “Don’t wait for me! I’ll catch up with you down the road!” 

“No!” he said. “Aint just leaving ya behind!”

“I’ll be fine. We’ll meet up in the next town over, ok. Don’t wait for me!” She said. 

He stood there looking down at her with a hard expression on his face. She could tell he was pissed but he knew there was no other way.

“Better not fuckin die on me!” he said angrily.

Elliette nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her level. She pressed her lips to his in a rushed, passionate kiss before pulling back and looking up at him.

“I love you Daryl” Elliette whispered softly so only he could hear before turning away quickly and climbing the shelf so she could reach the window. 

Once Elliette got to the top she set down the bottles, pulled her hatchet from her belt and smashed out the window. She knocked out as many of the small shards of glass as she could and slid the hatchet back into her belt. She snatched up the bottles, holding the shirt they were wrapped in between her teeth, and slipped through the window feet first. She hissed in pain as a few tiny shards of glass dug into her palms as she lowered herself as much as possible. She took a shaky breath, squeezing her eyes shut, and let go.

Elliette’s feet met the ground hard and she lost her balance, falling over painfully. Not wasting any time, she pulled herself up and ran around the side of the building. She stopped just out of sight, quickly unwrapping the bottles of whiskey and digging around in her pockets frantically. Her fingers brushed the familiar cardboard and she sighed in relief, pulling the small matchbook from her pocket. She had never been so happy that Daryl demanded that she always carry it with her in case of emergencies.

Elliette ripped the old shirt apart, opening the first bottle and stuffing half inside before putting the other half into the other bottle. She grabbed the two bottles and the matchbook and quietly snuck closer to the front of the building. She struck a match and lit the piece of shirt that was sticking out of one of the bottles, then chucked it as hard as she could at an abandoned car across the street. The car immediately burst into flames, catching the attention of some of the walkers at the back of the herd. 

She stuffed the matchbook into her pocket and gripped the second bottle tightly. Elliette then quickly ran across the street, grabbing a metal garbage can lid off of the ground. 

“Hey! Over here!” she yelled, banging the lid loudly against the building directly across from the convenience store. 

She quickly gained the attention of the rest of the walkers inside the store with the noise. They gave up trying to get to the group, turning to her instead. She turned and hurried down the street, continuing to bang the lid loudly as she went. Continually checking behind her to make sure the herd was still following her, she gradually led them away from the convenience store so the others could escape. 

Elliette turned the corner, catching sight of her saving grace. She dropped the garbage can lid and sprinted ahead to the gas station just down the road. She didn’t have much time so she had to hurry. She ducked behind a car several feet away, and pulled the matchbook from her pocket. She quickly struck another match, lighting the cloth on fire and throwing the bottle at one of the gas pumps, and ducking down quickly. The force of the explosion knocked her on het back as the gas station was consumed by flames. She laid on the ground in a daze as she tried to get her ears to quit ringing. 

A sudden weight fell on her, snapping her out of her daze as a decomposed face lunged at her. She threw her hands up, catching the walker by the throat. She struggled to hold it back, the strong smell of rotting flesh making her stomach turn. Elliette pushed the walker back as hard as she could, quickly swinging her elbow into the side of its head and knocking it off balance. She took the opportunity to shove it the rest of the way off of her, quickly pulling her hatchet out of her belt and smashing it into the walker’s skull. 

Elliette took a quick, shaky breath before yanking her hatchet from the walker’s smashed skull. She got to her feet and rushed down a side street away from the massive fire that was steadily drawing the walkers in. She ran through the town, smashing her hatchet into the skulls of any stray walkers she came across as she headed back in the direction the group had gone.

Once she was out of town, Elliette slowed her pace some. She still held her hatchet firmly in her shaky hands, not wanting to get caught off guard by any stray walkers that might be drawn by the flames. She continued walking down the highway for a while before the adrenaline wore off and exhaustion took over. Her legs felt like Jello as she collapsed to her knees in the middle of the road. She laid down on the cold asphalt, breathing heavily as she tried to get her nerves under control.

After a short break, Elliette got back to her feet, continuing on down the highway. The next town was maybe a mile away and shouldn’t take her very long to get there.

~•~•~•~  
Sorry I haven’t been working on this much lately guys but I promise I’m not giving up on it! 

I would love to hear from some of you silent readers out there, I love hearing your opinions on the story. 

Also if you guys have any suggestions, feel free to tell me! I love getting new ideas! 

Thanks a bunch guys!


	27. Chapter 27

Elliette had only been walking for a few minutes when she noticed a big green road sign that had her name smeared on it in mud. She went to the sign curiously, noticing a piece of paper taped to the bottom of the sign so she could reach it. She yanked it down and unfolded it, reading the messy writing.

“Elliette,  
Road blocked ahead, had to go around.  
We will wait for you”

Under the short note was a messily drawn map showing her which way to go. They had doubled back from the roadblock a little way to a small road just off of the main highway. It wasn’t very far ahead of her so she continued walking, picking up her pace since she was losing the daylight. 

She found the side road easily, not surprised to see it was a gravel road that seemed to cut through the woods. They had survived the winter so far by staying off of the main roads and sticking to back roads. The highways were dangerous, usually because of herds of walkers, but also because of other groups. People were getting desperate, willing to do pretty much anything to steal any supplies they could. 

Elliette’s feet crunched on the gravel as she trudged down the narrow winding road. The sun was really low, the light almost gone as the woods around the road grew thicker. She held her hatchet firmly, her senses on high alert as she continued through the darkness. There was a rustling in the trees along the side of the road, closely followed by moans and growls. She turned around in time to see three walkers come stumbling out of the woods just behind her. She took a step forward, ready to strike when there was more rustling just behind them.

“Shit!” she breathed as several more stumbled out of the bushes behind the first three. 

The walkers caught sight of her, hissing and moaning hungrily as they lumbered towards her. Elliette took a shaky breath, quickly turning on her heel and running down the road, away from the walkers. Her lungs burned with her labored breathing as she barreled down the gravel road, desperately searching through the darkness for any sign of her people. She pushed her already tired legs to keep going as she slowly gained some distance between herself and the group of walkers.

Elliette panted heavily, feeling her side start to cramp as she ran. A faint dot of orange came into view in the distance and she felt like she could cry, knowing that had to be her group. She threw a glance over her shoulder, noticing there was a pretty big gap between herself and the walkers. Some of them were still following her, not giving up on the meal before them, but it seemed like a few of them had meandered off. Glad that the number was down to one she could manage, she pulled her hatchet from her belt and waited as they approached her.

She bashed the first walker in the head, gagging when the heavily decomposed skull splattered her with blood and gore. She didn’t have time to throw up, the other walkers were right on her. Elliette yanked the hatchet from the mess of the first walkers skull, swinging it down hard on the next two. She made quick work of the rest of the walkers that had followed her, smashing their heads in quickly. Once she was out of danger, Elliette quickly used her shirt to wipe some of the blood from her face before continuing onwards. 

Elliette felt relief flow through her when she saw the familiar outlines of her group sitting around a small campfire. One silhouette in particular caught her attention, Daryl, who was still wearing that silly poncho, was pacing up and down the road near the small camp restlessly. He held his crossbow at the ready, surveying the area while Rick paced the edge of the woods with his pistol. Elliette made her footsteps more pronounced on the gravel road as she got closer. 

Daryl’s head snapped up at the sounds of gravel crunching in the distance. He lifted his crossbow, aiming it into the darkness warily.

“Who’s there?” he called out, catching the attention of the group as they all looked over nervously.

“It’s just me” Elliette said as she continued walking closer.

“Dinky” Daryl immediately lowered the crossbow and started walking in her direction. 

Elliette sped up, jogging up to Daryl and throwing her arms around him in a tight hug. He wrapped his strong arms around her tightly and buried his face in her hair as she laughed in relief. The rest of the group was immediately on their feet, they all hurried over toward them with a mix of relieved and happy expressions. 

“You crazy lil shit” Daryl mumbled squeezing her tighter before releasing his hold on her. Before Elliette could take a breath, she was being crushed in another hug.

“You had us all really worried” Robert said before letting her go. 

“What the hell did you blow up back there?” T-dog asked.

“A gas station” she shrugged.

“I taught you well” Dimitri chuckled ruffling her hair affectionately, making Elliette laugh.

“Thank you” Rick said putting a hand on her shoulder briefly before going back to his watch by the woods. 

After a few more hugs and thanks the group went back to huddling around the fire, leaving Elliette alone with Daryl. They stood there staring at each other for a moment before Elliette decided to break the silence.

“Well, I didn’t die” she shrugged.

“Did ya mean what ya said?” he asked pinning her with a hard stare.

“W-What?” She stuttered in surprise.

“Did ya mean what ya said back there?” He repeated “Or did ya just say it cuz you thought you’d die?” he added, the serious look never wavering.

Elliette felt her cheeks burning at the memory of telling him she loved him, thankful it was so dark outside so he couldn’t see. 

“Of course I meant it” she said quietly, looking down at her shoes nervously. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t” 

“Say it” he said.

She looked up, surprised at how close he was to her, his blue eyes burning holes through her.

“Huh?” she asked unsure.

“Say it” he repeated sternly.

“I love you” she replied softly.

Daryl cupped her cheek with his rough hand and pressed his lips to hers in a hard passionate kiss. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her against him possessively, as he crushed her lips with his. He held her tightly in his strong arms when they parted, resting his forehead against hers and staring into her eyes.

He didn’t need to say anything for Elliette to understand, that was Daryl’s way of telling her that he loved her. She knew he wasn’t very good at talking about his feelings, he was the kind of person that shows how he feels through his actions.

“Why are ya covered in so much blood?” he asked suddenly.

“I had to kill a lot of walkers” she chuckled. “One of them was pretty far gone, damn thing exploded all over me when I hit it.”

“Got yer stuff over there” he said pointing toward the group “Go change. Ya smell like walker shit” he said with a smirk.

“Your poncho looks stupid” she countered, grabbing the poncho and pulling him in for a quick kiss before she walked away.

Elliette shuffled over toward the fire, finding her bag with extra clothes she took from the thrift store earlier. She pulled out the pants and another shirt and went behind one of the trucks to change. When she was in some fresh clothes she carried her dirty ones back and stuffed them into the bag so she could wash them later.

“You and Daryl done suckin face?” T-dog chuckled as Elliette sat down by the fire.

“You jealous or something?” She asked with a smirk. 

“Nah, Dixon ain’t my type” he laughed. 

“Here” Glenn said handing her a candy bar. “Sorry its not much, we grabbed what we could on our way out”

“Thanks” she said tearing open the candy bar. 

Once she had food in her stomach, Elliette couldn’t fight the wave of exhaustion that rolled over her. She had such an exhausting day and it was getting really late now, so she unfolded her blanket and curled up on the ground by the fire. The of the fire radiated just enough heat to keep her warm as she drifted off to sleep.

Elliette was jerked awake by someone shaking her roughly. 

“Damn it, Dinky! Get the hell up!” Daryl whispered harshly through the darkness. 

Elliette looked around in confusion for a minute, realizing that it was still dark and that the campfire had been put out. The group was scrambling to the vehicles, tossing their things in and jumping inside in a rush.

“Don’t just sit there!” he growled, yanking her to her feet, snatching their blanket, and dragging her over to his motorcycle.

Daryl jumped onto the motorcycle, starting it up as Elliette jumped on behind him. She quickly pulled the blanket around herself to keep warm and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Elliette glanced behind them as they drove away, seeing a group of walkers stumbling through where they had been camped at. She sighed heavily and buried her face against Daryl’s back as they drove through the darkness to find somewhere else to stay.

They traveled for a while, not coming across anything down the dark gravel road. Eventually the small road met up with another highway so they pulled over to figure out their next move. Elliette sat on the ground next to the motorcycle as the guys tried to figure out which way they wanted to go. She had only gotten an hour of sleep earlier and she was fighting to stay awake. Her eyes snapped open when she felt Daryl’s firm hand on her shoulder, apparently she had nodded off.

“Come on” he said holding a hand out to her. 

She slipped her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet. She turned toward the motorcycle but he stopped her and pulled her over to one of the trucks.

“I’m not riding with you?” she asked curiously.

“Not this time” he said opening the door and ushering her inside. “Get some sleep” he said patting her leg gently.

“Ok” she replied as he nodded and shut the door. 

A minute later the doors of the truck opened again as Dimitri climbed into the driver’s seat and Robert scooched her into the middle so he could sit in the passenger seat. Elliette sighed contentedly when Dimitri started the truck and turned the heat on. 

“Get some rest sweetie” Robert said once they were on the road again.

“Ok” she sighed, closing her eyes and relaxing. 

When Elliette woke up she realized that she was leaning against someone. She straightened up quickly, taking a minute to remember where she was. 

“Everything ok?” Dimitri asked in amusement from the driver’s seat. 

“Yea” Elliette sighed looking out the front window. The sun was up now and they were still driving. “How long was I asleep?” She asked.

“Few hours.” Her father said from the passenger seat. Elliette glanced over at him and nodded. 

“Sorry I fell asleep on you” she said.

“It’s ok sweetheart” he chuckled “It was obvious how exhausted you were.”

“Thanks” she said. 

“There’s a town a few miles away. We should be stopping there to search for some supplies” Dimitri said.

“Ok” Elliette nodded looking around and trying to figure out where they were now.


End file.
